ESPN, Disney, ABC Airing Overwatch League

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Overwatch League quarterfinals start Wednesday, July 11 at 8 p.m. ET and fans can now watch all of the action on ESPN, Disney, and ABC networks, “” developer Blizzard Entertainment announced Wednesday.

Blizzard, , and Disney have signed an exclusive multi-year broadcasting deal that includes tonight’s playoffs, the Season 1 grand finals taking place at the Barclays Center in New York later this month, and Season 2. Blizzard will announce details about the Overwatch League World Cup at a later date.

Matches will air on ESPN, ESPN 2, Disney XD, and . Coverage will also be available for ESPN and Disney network subscribers live on the ESPN and DisneyNOW apps. Fans can still watch on video game livestreaming platform Twitch as well.

Overwatch League’s grand finals will be the first esports competition to air live on ESPN’s flagship network in primetime, and it will be the first broadcast of an esports championship on ABC.

“The Overwatch League Grand Finals is by far our most comprehensive television distribution for an esports event over a single weekend: 10 total hours over four networks and three days,” said Disney and ESPN Media Networks executive vice president of affiliate sales and marketing Justin Connolly,. “This overall collaboration with Disney/ABC, ESPN and Blizzard represents our continued commitment to esports, and we look forward to providing marquee Overwatch League coverage across our television platforms for fans.”

This is not the first time ESPN has aired a Blizzard esports event. It broadcast the first two seasons of Heroes of the Dorm, a college-level championship for Blizzard’s multiplayer online battle arena game “Heroes of the Storm.” The third season, however, aired exclusively on Facebook last year.

The Overwatch League Grand Finals begin on Friday, July 27 at 7 p.m. EDT with the first best-of-five match on ESPN, and it continues on Saturday, July 28 at 4:30 p.m. EDT with the second and potential third series on Disney XD. Day two of the grand finals will re-air on ESPN 2 at 9 p.m. EDT. There will also be a highlight show airing Sunday, July 29 at 3 p.m. EDT on ABC.

Overwatch League 2017–2018 Playoffs and Grand Finals Telecast Schedule (all times Eastern):