Overwatch League Grand Finals heads to Toronto in 2023
The Overwatch League has announced that the Playoffs and Grand Finals for its sixth season are heading to Toronto, at the Mattamy Atheltic Centre.
The Playoffs will kick off on September 28th and will run through the 30th, with the action culminating in the Grand Final on October 1st.
The public admission tickets are set to go on sale on July 28th, with preferred tickets like VIP and floor tickets going on sale a week earlier on the 21st.
A grand prize of $1,000,000 USD is up for grabs for the competitors. Moreover, the League also announced the competitive format.
Click to enlargeOWL Grand Finals 2023 Format
After the conclusion of the North American and APAC play-in tournaments, five teams from the West and three teams from the East will make it through to the playoffs.
This year, the Overwatch League opted for a different Playoff format, seeding the eight teams into two separate groups.
In those groups, the two best teams will be determined by double-elimination bracket play which will take place from the 28th to the 30th of September. The two best teams from each group will then be seeded into a single-elimination bracket.
With four teams remaining, both the respective semi-finals and the Grand Finals will be played on October 1st.
Teams in the West will be able to qualify for the playoffs through their regular season records as well as a last-chance option through the play-in tournament shortly before the Playoffs.
Click to enlargeIn the East, the system is more tricky due to this season’s incorporation of Overwatch Contenders teams into the Overwatch League system.
For APAC, the qualifying stage records are not relevant for Playoff qualification with only the knockout stage performance counting towards grabbing one of the much sought-after playoff spots. A play-in event in the East will also allow for a final chance to grab a spot for the season Playoffs.
- Be sure to check out our rundown of five crucial storylines for Overwatch League's Summer Stage
The playoffs in Toronto will be the second post-season played on Overwatch 2. Blizzard Entertainment had announced that a patch containing a new support hero and the new game mode Flashpoint would be deployed into active Overwatch League play in late August prior to the conclusion of the Summer Stage.
During the 2023 Midseason Madness, an international event hosted in Seoul, South Korea, the Atlanta Reign had dominated the competition, without having lost a match so far during Overwatch League season 6, beating the Houston Outlaws in the Grand Finals with a dominant 4-1.
With the Playoffs, the Overwatch League is returning to the Toronto Defiant's home city after having hosted last year's Summer Showdown also at the Mattamy Atheltic Centre. The venue is part of the historic building that had once been the home stadium of the Toronto Maple Leafs, winning 11 NHL Stanley Cups during their stay.
