Former Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Overholt surprised the Canadian sporting community last Friday by announcing his next venture would be to head up OverActive Media and the new forthcoming Toronto Overwatch League (OWL) franchise.
Turning away from a COC period under his watch that’s been arguably the most successful ever to pursue a new venture in major professional esports may seem like a bizarre move, but before he even knew he was going to go down this path, Overholt got some advice about the space from one of the most successful sports executives in history.
“I’ve been following this space for a little while. I was approached by some friends in the U.S. to go and meet with the Activision Blizzard people about a year and a half ago, and they wanted to talk to me at the time about what they were building,” Overholt told Bob McCown and Stephen Brunt on Prime Time Sports Monday.
“So I went in and met with those who have since built the league. In the process, I actually spent some time with David Stern in New York and chatted with him a little bit about it and, actually, after about 90 minutes, I asked David, ‘You’ve been around this a long time, you were a 30-year commissioner of the NBA. What do you think?’ And he said, ‘I think it’s here to stay.’ That was February 2017.”
It’s unclear whether or not Stern, one of the NBA’s most influential commissioners ever, was talking about Overwatch esports, specifically, but seeing how his successor Adam Silver got the NBA 2K League off the ground this year, Stern was likely alluding to the industry as a whole.
Overholt admits he doesn’t quite understand the appeal of esports, completely, but isn’t letting that get in the way of a new, exciting opportunity. Particularly when he sees the kind of admiration enthusiasts of esports have for the players involved.
“The kids who play these games and the young people who enjoy them the way they do, they see the skills the same way as DeMar DeRozan grabbing a defensive rebound, streaking down the court and slamming the ball over two guys,” Overholt said. “The kids who watch and respect the players, they see the skills as the same.”
It’s still early days for Toronto’s OWL club, which was announced at the same time as a Vancouver franchise that will be run by Canucks Sports & Enertainment. Right now through Oct. 7, Toronto, Vancouver and the six other OWL expansion teams coming to the previously 12-team outfit has an exclusive window to sign free agents and fill out their rosters before the other teams can begin signing new players on Oct. 8.
This team construction will look very similar to anything seen in traditional sports.
“We have coaches, we have general managers, we have assistant coaches, we have personal trainers, we have chefs, we have a team psychologist,” said Overholt. “Think about everything that goes into putting a team on a field of play and asking them to be competitive over a course of a season, our approach will be exactly the same with these kids.”
Though there’s been no official word yet, based off last year’s inaugural season, pre-season play will likely begin in December, with the regular season kicking off in January.
Toronto will hopefully have a fully assembled roster, team nickname and logo by then as well.
Overwatch is a popular team-based first-person shooter from video game publisher/developer Activision Blizzard that pits squads of six against each other.
Last season was the OWL’s very first with the London Spitfire emerging victorious over the Philadelphia Fusion in the league’s finals at a sold-out Barclays Center in Brooklyn back in July.
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