Overwatch League announces new offseason roster rules

Bill Cooney

The 2019 Grand Finals in Philadelphia, a lot of teams will be looking to make adjustments to their rosters.

On July 30 the league released key offseason dates for the 2019/2020 offseason and made significant changes to the rules regarding two-way players, who play in both Overwatch League and contenders.

Robert Paul via Blizzard EntertainmentThe Dragons made some major changes following Season 1.
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The signing window appears

Teams will be able to sign new players a day after the Grand Finals, on September 30 and must have at least eight players ready for play for the 2020 season by November 15, 2019.

Players will still be able to be signed and released/traded from teams following November 15, as all 2019 season agreements will end on November 11.

Robert Paul/The Overwatch LeagueUnlike the previous offseason, we won’t see any new teams added to the Overwatch League.
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The full list of key dates for the Overwatch League offsesason is as follows:

  • Sept. 30, 2019: Signing window opens for teams to exercise team options on existing player contracts, negotiate extensions with currently signed players, or sign players from their affiliated academy team competing in Contenders.
  • Oct. 7, 2019: Teams that have completed exercising (or declining) all existing contract options may submit free-agent player contracts to the League Office for approval. Teams may also submit player trades for approval.
  • Nov. 11, 2019: 2019 season agreements officially end. Any players not under contract into the 2020 season become free agents. In order to facilitate these players signing with new teams before the initial roster deadline, those players set to become free agents in November are permitted to discuss contracts with other teams before their 2019 contracts formally expire.
  • Nov. 15, 2019: Deadline for all teams to have a minimum of eight players under contract. Teams may sign or trade players until June 15, 2020, at 5 p.m. PT.

Players who were born on or before June 15, 2002, are eligible to sign Overwatch League contracts for the 2020 season.

Overwatch League/Robert PaulA lot of teams could be looking to make some changes following Season 2.
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What about two-way players?

The 2020 season will see a change in how two-way players will operate. Any player on the team can now be considered a two-way player, but the maximum number of them a team can have is four at a time.

Two-way players will lose 60 days of eligibility in Contenders if they compete in more than two Overwatch League matches in a 30 day period.

Overwatch League/Robert PaulFragi and Bischu found a new home on the Guangzhou Charge just before Stage 4 of Season 2.
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Season 2 of the Overwatch League isn’t quite over yet, but there are definitely at least a few teams looking forward to the offseason and building their rosters.

About The Author

Bill is a former writer at Dexerto based in Iowa, who covered esports, gaming and online entertainment for more than two years. With the US team, Bill covered Overwatch, CSGO, Influencer culture, and everything in between.