According to sources, two new franchises will be announced today, bringing the total number of Overwatch League teams at the start of the second season to fourteen. Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau a.k.a ‘Leakboy’ added that these two teams will be based out of Guangzhou, China and Atlanta, Georgia.

As reported by ESPN’s @JacobWolf, the Guangzhou and Atlanta OWL franchises will be backed by the Nenking Group (ownership of Chinese Basketball Association’s Guangzhou Long-Lions) and Cox Enterprises, respectively. https://t.co/g3WSIqUrHT

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 1, 2018

As for the rest of the teams, they are now allowed to negotiate extensions with current players or to sign players from their affiliated Contenders team. Teams may also begin making player trades. These agreements must be finalized by 8th September, failing which, unsigned players (from the Overwatch League inaugural season) will be deemed as free agents from 9th September onwards.

The ‘expansion teams’ will then be allowed to sign the available free agents starting 9th of September til 7th October. This window is exclusive for the expansion teams only.

From October 8th onwards, all the teams are allowed to sign for free agents for the second season of the Overwatch League.

Additional Requirements:

• All teams must have a minimum of eight players under contract by Dec. 1, 2018. Teams may sign or trade players until a final deadline during the 2019 season that will be announced at a later date.
• Players who turn 18 prior to the season deadline are eligible to sign Overwatch League contracts for the 2019 season. While the date has yet to be finalized, players born before May 1, 2001, will be eligible.
• Beginning with the 2019 season, the term of player agreements will no longer be fixed at one year with an additional one-year option. Players and teams may negotiate contracts for up to three years, with a maximum of one year as an option in addition to one or two guaranteed years.
• All contracts must be submitted to the League Office for review and approval.

The league also introduced a new system called ‘Two-way players’.

For the 2019 Overwatch League season, teams and players may negotiate the right to designate the player as eligible to compete in Contenders on an affiliated team. Any player on the roster may agree to be eligible for Contenders play, but a maximum of four players may be designated as “two-way” players during each Overwatch League stage, and those players must be identified and submitted to the League Office prior to each stage.

Two-way players are eligible to compete in Contenders, subject to the following rules:

• Regardless of where they play, two-way players count toward the Overwatch League roster limit of 12 and must earn the same salary and benefits. Two-way players also will count towards the eight-player Contenders roster limit for weeks in which their Contenders team designates them as eligible to compete.
• Two-way players lose their Contenders eligibility if they appear in more than two Overwatch League matches in a stage.
• A maximum of two designated two-way players may compete in any single Contenders match.
• No player will be eligible to appear in both Contenders and Overwatch League matches in the same week.

While the first season of the Overwatch League concluded last week, the journey continues as teams seek to improve on their Season 1 performances with new additions via trades or unearthing diamonds in the rough. Ask Philadelphia Fusion whose inclusion of Eqo and Snillo turned their disappointing start into an appearance at the Grand Finals.

We will be bringing you all the transfer news, updates and gossip as we gear up for Season 2 of the Overwatch League so keep it locked on to Kakuchopurei.com