The Overwatch League grand finals are always a staple of the league’s season, usually leading to a massive crowd somewhere in the U.S. cheering for the best players in the world. But in 2023, for the first time in the league’s history, those finals will be held outside of the U.S.
The final matches of the 2023 playoffs and the grand finals will be hosted by the Toronto Defiant in downtown Toronto, Canada. The Mattamy Athletic Centre, which hosted the 2022 Summer Showdown LAN tournament, will now be host to the biggest OWL event of the year. The playoffs begin on Sept. 28, with the grand finals set for Oct. 1.
Historically, it’s been a custom for the U.S. to be the hosts of the OWL finals, regardless of whether the “home” team makes it that deep into the tournament. The New York Excelsior hosted the first OWL grand finals back in 2018 in Brooklyn, despite failing to make it over the London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion. The same occurred in the following year, with Philadelphia hosting the 2019 final between San Francisco Shock and Vancouver Titans.
Related: Third time’s the charm: Overwatch League veteran joins San Francisco Shock—again
After the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 finals were played online, with some LANs returning toward the end of the 2021 season. That second season had a finals venue in mind—Los Angeles—but was canceled over health concerns due to the Delta variant of COVID-19.
OWL fans finally saw the return of live finals in 2022 at the same venue as previous BlizzCon events. Anaheim, California played host to the Dallas Fuel against San Francisco Shock in what proved to be an exciting series and the crowning of a new champion in the Fuel.
Now, a new team will have the grand event as their homestand, similar to what Excelsior and Fusion had before the pandemic. Considering their early exit in the Spring Stage Knockouts, the Toronto Defiant would have to make an improved run in the Summer Stage to automatically qualify for the playoffs or will otherwise have to fight through the play-in bracket. The curse of missing your home event is a prevalent one, even though it hasn’t happened in nearly four years.
The road to the OWL playoffs will begin with this week’s Summer Stage Qualifiers, with last-chance play-ins set for mid-September.
