Sigh Hello…again. As some of us have probably found out by now, we have learned that the Overwatch League is having trouble gaining new sponsors, and the sponsors it does have…well, they are either revisiting their partnership or, at the very least, want a meeting.
However, in typical OW forum fashion, the anti-OWL and pro-OWL crowd have completely misrepresented the facts and potential impacts of OWL business sponsors reassessing their partnership…which means your humble servant (myself) is left to clean up the mess of both sides and attempt to right the ship of truth. So, here we go.
So, what exactly happened?
Over the past couple weeks, in response to the fallout regarding the investigation and subsequent lawsuit against Activision Blizzard by the State of California, a few sponsors have pulled their advertising from OWL (and to a lesser extent, Call of Duty League) broadcasts. Specifically, T-Mobile pulled their advertising from OWL prior to Week 1 of the Countdown Cup, and have also (at least temporarily) pulled their ads from the Plat Chat podcast. The T-Mobile ads being pulled also affects Call of Duty League. Today, State Farm requested that OWL run none of their ads this week while they “reassess” their partnership, while Coca-Cola has also requested none of its sponsored ads be run this week.
Does this mean T-Mobile, Coca-Cola, and State Farm have officially ended their partnership with the league?
As of right now, the only sponsor which has fully pulled out of partnerships is T-Mobile…and even then, the Plat Chat podcast staff have said that the podcast (which is about OWL) is completely separate from OWL and talks with T-Mobile are still ongoing. Coca-Cola and State Farm have not officially pulled their sponsorships…they only requested no ads run this week. Both companies were still listed on the OWL website, so it remains to be seen if State Farm or Coca-Cola will stay as sponsors or end their partnerships.
What about the other companies sponsoring Overwatch League? Have they made a statement yet?
As of this post, no. But I will try to update you if the other companies make a statement.
Would business sponsors being pulled even do anything?
Absolutely. FIFA would not have had to undergo a massive overhaul of how it runs and governs international soccer/football had the sponsors for FIFA turned a blind eye to the corruption and bribery scandal that embroiled so many of its executives several years ago. Given how sponsors effectively forced FIFA to change, it’s completely reasonable to suspect that once business sponsors for the OWL reassess their partnership, that AB C-suite executives start realizing they need to change.
So would sponsors being pulled mean the end of OWL?
Not likely, or at least, not likely when given that OWL viewership, to some extent, is what’s keeping interest in OW2 afloat. But it’s completely reasonable to argue that with these sponsorships being pulled or paused resulting in lost earnings for shareholders, that shareholders will not be happy with AB executives. Remember, shareholders are ultimately what AB answer to. Less money means dividends aren’t paid, and as one can surmise, that doesn’t make many shareholders very happy.
So while it is completely reasonable that a shakeup of a large magnitude at all executive levels is expected (which means the Blizzard president resigning isn’t the only shakeup we will see once shareholders see lost dividends), OWL won’t suddenly disappear like some in the anti-OWL crowd would probably hope…or at least, it won’t suddenly disappear just because of sponsors pulling or pausing their advertising.
So knowing OWL won’t go anywhere in the short term, what will most likely happen?
Expect several meetings between top brass at the sponsors and top brass at AB, either later this month or immediately after the season concludes. Sponsors will have some talk about brand image and how events like California suing AB cause brand image (including sponsors) to be damaged. Deals and plans will be struck or not struck and AB and sponsors will proceed accordingly in terms of whether or not to continue partnership.
In the meantime, legal matters for OWL must be taken care of. A long offseason where AB deals with both the State of California as well as the U.S. federal government (who are doing a separate investigation regarding salary cap practices in OWL) should be expected. While legal teams and AB execs figure out what changes need to be made to OWL specifically and Activision Blizzard in general, devs will quietly work on OW2, and will hopefully at least have enough work done by the end of the year to give BlizzCon 2021 (2022?) attendees an alpha (or at least, demo) version of OW2…and hopefully, a release date for OW2.
As to what happens past BlizzCon, I will not speculate. You are free to imagine how OWL2022 will be done or if OWL makes a seamless transition into OW2. However, expect everything above to happen over the foreseeable short-term future. Anything else is asinine at best.
That’s all for now, folks. If you’ll excuse me, American football is calling my name…