After pivoting to a schedule of online matches due to the widespread of COVID-19, or the coronavirus, the Overwatch League is looking at yet another roadblock.
The March 21 and 22 games that were supposed to be held online this weekend have been postponed due to a recent order from the city of Los Angeles.
The city of Los Angeles instituted a “safer at home” order on March 19, discouraging citizens from leaving the house for nonessential duties. The state of California is also under a similar mandate. The production and talent staff of the Overwatch League is located in Los Angeles. The teams who were set to participate in this weekend’s games are also located in the Los Angeles area. With this mandate, they’d be at risk leaving their homes.
“For the overall safety and well-being of our players, teams and staffs, and in alignment with the Los Angeles ‘safer at home’ health order, we are canceling this weekend’s scheduled Overwatch League competition,” the league said in a statement.
In response to the coronavirus, the Overwatch League canceled all matches based in China throughout February and March. After that, a homestand event in Seoul was canceled, and the league made the difficult decision to cancel all live events in March and April. The league shifted to an online tournament model through May 1.
The Overwatch League has not yet provided a makeup date for these matches but did explicitly say they were postponed, not canceled.
