The Overwatch League Returns to Toronto for 2023 Grand Finals
International fans of the Overwatch League are winning once again in 2023, riding the high of a massively successful Midseason Madness tournament in South Korea straight into another global event.
Eight qualifying teams will be heading to Toronto, Ontario for the 2023 Grand Finals, which will take place from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1. This will be the league’s second large-scale event in Toronto, following last year’s Summer Showdown series. With a grand prize of $1 million USD on the line, teams will be vying for more than a free vacation to the Great North.
Getting to the big stage is the real challenge, though. The Overwatch League postseason is always guaranteed to be a little chaotic, but new format changes are guaranteed to spice things up, for better or worse.
Five teams from the West Region and three teams from the East Region will head to Toronto after each region’s respective play-in tournament concludes. These teams will then be drafted into groups of four. Two double-elimination brackets will play out over the course of three days in Toronto; though these brackets are separate, the broadcast will hop back and forth to get full coverage of all the action.
The top two teams from each bracket will then enter into a four-team, single-elimination Grand Finals bracket. All three high-stakes matches will take place on Oct. 1 with one winner standing tall at the end of the day.
The 2023 Overwatch League champion goes home with a sparkling trophy and $1,000,000 USD in prize money. Even second and third places are lucrative, with teams taking home $400,000 and $225,000, respectively. There are monetary rewards all the way down to sixth place, so even making it into the room where it happens is a worthy goal.
All the action will go down at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in the heart of downtown Toronto, which has a 2,500-guest capacity. Preferred ticket presales for Grand Finals begin on July 21 at 9 am PT and general admission sales kick off on July 28 at 9 am PT.
Liz “mizliz” Richardson is a freelance journalist, editor, and esports nerd based out of Chicago. Over the past four years, Liz has cemented herself as one of the most prominent remaining voices in Overwatch 2 and Overwatch League coverage. She’s been nominated twice for Esports Journalist of the Year by the Esports Awards, has been featured on the Overwatch League site and broadcast multiple times, and has probably authored a few terrible memes that have crossed your Twitter timeline. Inviting new fans–especially of marginalized genders or identities–into the esports scene is Liz’s greatest passion in journalism, followed close behind by humorous pieces and the big, bold feature stories that make the grind worth it. When Liz isn’t dunking reply guys on the internet, she’s likely treasure hunting at thrift stores, crafting sparkly jewelry, or making poor life choices at Target and Ulta.