Toronto could be getting an Overwatch League team

News
By published

An ownership group reportedly paid $35 million for the rights to Canada's first OWL franchise.

Image source: City of Toronto

The Overwatch League announced earlier this month that new expansion teams are headed to the cities of Atlanta and Guangzhou. According to ESPN, a third team will soon be announced for the Canadian city of Toronto. 

"League sources" told the site that Toronto—Hogtown, the Big Smoke, Tronna—will be the home of a team operated by Splyce, an esports organization with teams and players competing in CS:GO, League of Legends, Hearthstone, and more. Entrepreneur Michael Kimel is heading the ownership group, which also includes members of his family and Splyce investor OverActive Media.   

The franchise is expected to cost $35 million, a significant jump over the reported $20 million per team cost for the league's original teams. Splyce will hold a ten percent ownership interest in the new team, which as Sportsnet pointed out is a bit ironic (and delicious, if you live anywhere in Canada that isn't Toronto): Splyce itself is backed by Delaware North, a hospitality company that also owns the Boston Bruins.

If the report is accurate, the Toronto team will likely be the last to come to North America for the second season of the Overwatch League. Blizzard said in May that it wanted to add six new teams to the league for the season, two each from the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe and the Middle East. 

An Overwatch League rep declined to comment on the report. 

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.