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Overwatch League Finals: How to watch, stream the first championship – CNET

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The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the Overwatch League Grand Finals will be held.

Blizzard Entertainment

The Overwatch League, Blizzard’s ambitious effort to turn its successful multiplayer shooter into an esports juggernaut, culminates this weekend in the Overwatch League Grand Finals July 27-28 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Each of the teams left in the tournament will be competing for its share of a $1.4M prize pool and the honor of being the top Overwatch team in the world. At least until next year.

The playoffs are simple: Six teams worked their way through a playoff bracket to reach New York, where the two teams left standing will face off in a best-of-three series. Each round will be determined by whoever wins two best-of-five games.

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This year, the bottom-ranked of those six teams made it out alive. The sixth-seeded Philadelphia Fusion (24-16) and fifth-seeded London Spitfire (24-16) upset the competition and will compete in a trans-Atlantic Grand Finals matchup. Over the course of the season, the Fusion won three out of five matchups between the two.

Their battle begins Friday, July 27 at 7 p.m. ET, with remaining matches taking place Saturday, July 28 at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Here’s the broadcast schedule for those watching via traditional television.

  • Friday, July 27, 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT): ESPN, Disney XD 
  • Saturday, July 28, at 4:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. PT): ESPN3 and Disney XD 

You can also watch the finals if you’re a cord-cutter via any of the following platforms, at the times listed above:

  • Twitch 
  • OverwatchLeague.com 
  • Overwatch League app 
  • MLG.com 
  • MLG app

Fans who tune in with Twitch, provided their Battle.net account is hooked up to the streaming platform, will also be able to earn exclusive sprays based on how much they watch, and when.

overwatch-league-rewards

overwatch-league-rewards

Blizzard Entertainment

From Twitch’s blog:

  • Watch 1.5 total hours on Friday, July 27 to unlock Match’s On!
  • Watch 3 total hours on Friday, July 27 to unlock Watchparty: Gibraltar. 
  • Watch 1.5 total hours on Saturday, July 28 to unlock #1 Fan. 
  • Watch 3 total hours on Saturday, July 28 to unlock Living Room.

For those yet to try out Overwatch, the game will be free to play on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 starting July 26 through July 30.