Amidst all the news surrounding COVID-19 in esports, fans of the Overwatch League are not going to be thrilled about the news with one of the top teams in the league. New York Excelsior, who is one of the best franchises in the league since the inaugural season, announced they are temporarily stepping back from playing matches in OWL. 

New York, as a state, is currently on lockdown. Streets of New York that were once filled with people all over are now deserted. Sports teams like the Brooklyn Nets and New York Yankees that are usually playing games during this time of the year are now on hiatus. For NYXL, they are putting their players and staff's health first before moving forward with playing matches, albeit OWL matches now take place online.

NYXL is currently ranked third in the overall standings. They were scheduled to play this weekend against the Atlanta Reign and Boston Uprising, with a total of eight matches, played on Saturday and Sunday each. With NYXL not playing this weekend, the league did not replace those matches. Instead, they reduced the total number of matches played each day this weekend from eight to five matches. There is no timetable when NYXL is going to restart playing matches in OWL.