Overwatch League, the first global home-based major esports league, announced that - as of today - the new 8 teams will start exclusive negotiations and contracts with free agents for the 2019 season.

After successfully concluding the first season, Overwatch League has now begun the first offseason. With the start of the offseason as a signal, the league started to extensively expand the spectrum of the next season by signing contracts with the 8 new teams based in China and NA.

All the new teams of the Overwatch League 2019 have exclusive rights to negotiate and form contracts with free agents from today till October 7th (PDT). Free agents are those who are not affiliated with the Overwatch League, such as players who are free from the contracts of their past teams after the first season. It is expected that many players who delivered remarkable performances at the Overwatch Contenders, which took place in 7 different countries, and the Overwatch World Cup 2018 will join the Overwatch League through this procedure.

All contracts must be approved by the Overwatch League Bureau, and all teams including the existing Overwatch League teams can freely make contracts with free agents from October 8th (PDT).

Additionally, the 2019 season adopts a new regulation called Two-way Player. From the next season onward, an Overwatch League team can select a two-way player who can enter both the Overwatch League and Contenders.

For more information about the Overwatch League Free Agents and Two-way Player regulation, check out the Overwatch League homepage.

The latest news about Overwatch can also be found at OverwatchLeague.com and their social media accounts including Twitter, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.