London Franchise Takes Esports’ Biggest Prize
UK-based franchise London Spitfire has become the inaugural champion of the Overwatch League – the first major global professional esports league.
The fifth-seeded London team defeated sixth seed Philidelphia Fusion in the second game of the Grand Finals series in front of 22,434 fans at Barclays Center in New York.
The weekend marked the end of an inaugural season that began in January, with 12 city-based franchises competing over 40 regular-season games, followed by two playoff rounds at Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles.
The Londoners pick up a $1,000,000 prize for their success in the final series, which also featured music sets from DJ Khaled, DJ Mick and DJ Envy as part of an integrated entertainment event.
What a season it has been. #OWL2018 #TheFirstFinals
Congratulations @Spitfire ! #HistoryCaptured pic.twitter.com/hrz9OhVeZ6
— Overwatch League #TheFirstFinals (@overwatchleague) July 28, 2018
The occasion attracted a celebrity audience, including rockstar Jon Bon Jovi, and will have been closely followed by many observers from the traditional sports industry keen to tap in to the sector.
But mainstream viewing figures for the event failed to meet most expectations, with live Friday coverage on ESPN achieving a rating of just 0.18 according to US reports.
In addition to the unprecedented primetime broadcast, the Grand Finals matches were also screened on DisneyXD and esports’ endemic streaming platform, Twitch.
London Spitfire, whose main sponsor is endemic Swiss tech firm Logitech G, was formed out of US esports giant Cloud9. It is currently the only European team in the global Overwatch League, which also features franchises based in China and Korea.
