Following are the summary of existing information and updates on OWL, based on the Q&A session at the press conference, and plans previously proposed by Blizzard.
◆ OWL Seeks Large Capitals for ‘sustainability’
OWL was heavily criticized after it was found that the League had set extraordinarily high investment standards in entering the League. This also led to many teams disbanding, especially because they won’t be able to participate in the OWL.
Blizzard announced seven franchise teams, of which almost every owners of the team are big capitalists. The reason why Blizzard pushed ahead with such requirements despite the criticism was to prevent the teams from disbanding due to financial reasons.
“Simply creating a logo and calling yourself a team won't work in the OWL because, like I have mentioned, you need to be able to operate a venue in order to participate,”mentioned Nanzer, “Fortunately for you guys, it is easy to engage in live esports events in Seoul, but that is not the case for the majority of people in other parts of the world.” Nanzer went on to argue, that “we want to bring live esports to more people around the world,” and that “This means that a team has to have the capital and the infrastructure necessary to have a venue and operate it to host the event.”
◆How Much Did the OWL Team Owners Promise to Invest?
It was reported from foreign media that the investment to be made by each team owners would exceed at least $10 mil (KRW 11.2 bil), and even more for teams in bigger markets.
Speculations on the mandatory investment required by the owners reached fever pitch, and Blizzard and OWL team owners were not particularly helpful in clarifying the details. However, it was found that there really is going to be a substantial amount of investment for the team, as Chou commented, “Although we can’t give you the details, we plan to make ‘eight-figure’ investment.’
Chou expressed his resolution to operate the team through a new and innovative approach and distinguish the team from currently existing esports organizations, based on his experiences as an entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, and exclaimed that he “expects to generate revenue in the next two years.”
According to Nanzer, several teams are expected to be added in the OWL before the beginning of Season 1.
◆Existing teams may be paid transfer fees
As the information on OWL was announced, existing teams raised concerns on their original players being hijacked to OWL franchise teams without any compensation. As the existing teams have limited financial capabilities, transfer fees are considered the only ways to sustain the teams.
When asked the question on transfer fees, Nanzer answered: “Those are private discussions between different parties. Blizzard and the league are not directly involved in the discussions that are happening between OWL team owners and existing teams, so I don’t have anything I can comment on for that,” and that “we are going to be very thoughtful about how players will move.” This implies that the rules for the transfer is currently not in place.
What would the team owners comment on this matter? “We definitely want to make sure that the current team owners get [monetarily] compensated for creating and developing talents. We want to cooperate with the existing teams so that they don't feel that we are going past them and straight to recruiting.
Although we cannot announce the details at the moment, we plan to compensate the teams,” exclaimed Kevin Chou. However, the opinions of other franchise team owners are yet to be revealed.
However, considering that many teams still lack proper contracts and only rely on verbal agreements, the teams should develop, review and thoroughly prepare to prove its right over players, in order to be properly compensated for the transfer.
◆"Coaches will also benefit from the League "
Blizzard recently announced the minimum salary clause of $50K, health insurance, and retirement savings plan for the players. However, these clauses are limited only to the payers, and no comment on the labor conditions of coaches.
Regarding the issue, Nanzer commented: “We want to create a very professional league. And so coaches, cooks, and everyone working behind the scene will be well taken care of. It’s really important to us that we partner with owners that have the same goal of really professionalizing an esport from top to bottom as we wish to.”
However, the policies regarding coaches are yet to be codified, and are still in the stage of sharing common visions between the League and the team owners. Hyun went on to add: “We have nothing to announce today but it’s a very collaborative process ? it's not just us coming here and telling them to do something. We will work with local players and coaches to figure it out.”
◆ Roster for Team Seoul to be announced in the following weeks
The roster for KSV esports, a.k.a. Team Seoul has not yet been announced. However, the expectations of KSV buying in an entire existing team rose when Chou mentioned that “Teamwork is incredibly important if we want to claim victory.” Chou went on to say that he “met with all the teams from the past 3 seasons of APEX.”
The size of the roster for OWL teams is minimum six, and maximum 12 players. This implies that Chou buying in an entire exiting team, and bringing in individual players from other teams sounds the most probable option.
Chou said that “we’re in the last stages of building the roster, and we’ll be able to officially announce the roster in a couple of weeks.”
◆'Region Lock”not implemented. However……
Regarding the rosters for OWL, Blizzard announced that the regional limitations based on birthplace or nationality will not be implemented, opening the chances for NA franchise teams with all-Korean rosters. This has actually led to several Korean players entering teams in North America. Nanzer said, “What we want is a league that is filled with world-class players, regardless of where they are from,” assuring that OWL is not planning to region-lock as of now.
However, the policy may face alterations based on future outcomes, as Nanzer added, “We will monitor as the league evolves and see how it goes.” In fact, Starcraft 2 restructured the WCS system to complicate the overseas expansion of Korean players, after the Korean talents dominated worldwide competitions for the first 2-3 years.
◆ OWL Teams to Host Amateur Events
It was confirmed that the OWL teams’ hosting of five amateur events, previously announced by the League, is actually a ‘right’ rather than an ‘obligation.’
Nanzer mentioned that “The team owners were excited about hosting events, and the events are most likely used by owners to engage with their fanbase. The activities with fans will be beneficial to the esports industry in overall.”
When asked the question on the specifications of amateur players, Nanzer answered, “players who are not in the OWL.” On another question on whether APEX players can join these amateur events or not, Nanzer responded: “We’ll approach this on a case-by-case basis depending on what the plan is for the event. We cannot assure you anything at the moment, and we’re referring to all events other than OWL. We’re willing to accept any creative ideas.”
When asked the same question, Chou answered “We are definitely going to be experimenting and working with the community. We will be showcasing all of the existing local talents, and we will also be discovering new ones through this event. We will make these events important for the fans. Expect us to run all five a year and make them must-attend events.”
According to Nanzer and Chou’s response, details on the amateur events seem to not yet have been arranged. The event may vary in format and size, from fanmeets or Internet Cafe tournaments, to another pro-level events where APEX teams can participate in. It is expected that these so-called amateur events will be arranged based on the determinations of team owners, and the market conditions.
◆The Possibilities of a Crosstown Rivalry?
Cases of crosstown rivalry exist for sport franchises, and a representative case would be New York Yankees and New York Mets in Major League Baseball.
Would we be able to see crosstown rivalry in OWL? Nanzer commented, “For Seoul, for Season 1, this (KSV Esports) is the Seoul team. We haven’t thought about what that could be in the future, as we’re focused on adding more cities around the world right now.”
However, the possibility of crosstown rivalry still exist, if a new investor strongly wishes to enter OWL from the city already with a team, as the commissioner did not make sure that a two-team city will not be allowed.
Translated by ROXCrew.
*This translation was provided through a partnership with the ROXGAMING.
