Overwatch League team the Dallas Fuel announced that it will resume live, in-person events at the Esports Arena Arlington on July 9. The Overwatch League team will be on stage at the event going up against the Houston Outlaws.
This is a big step toward esports to returning back to the physical world after more than a year of primarily online tournaments. This will be the first OWL match to be hosted at a team’s home arena as the league has been solely playing online matches. There have been smaller local events and tournaments that were closed to the public that happened this year, but this is significant as the match between Dallas Fuel and the Houston Outlaws will be one of the first major in-person events in the United States since the pandemic.
The Outlaws will be playing remotely outside of the arena. Masks will be required at the event and the arena will only be at 50% capacity.
It’s part of an emerging trend for esports, as events open up to the public again worldwide. In Europe, the League of Legends European Championship has started to have matches with teams in the same vicinity of each other for the first time since March 2020. Meanwhile, the Call of Duty League announced that it will be hosting LAN matches again for Major IV.
Tickets for the July 9 match are $15 and will be on sale on June 16 to the general public and June 15 for EnvyUs members.
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