Overwatch League 2021 playoffs to be played in Texas, grand finals in Los Angeles

Overwatch League has officially announced that the 2021 Season playoffs and Grand Finals will be played offline, with the Esports Stadium Arlington in Texas and the Galen Center in Los Angeles as the selected venues.

The announcement made on 20th July also gave us more details regarding the playoff format, as well as start dates for the final phase of OWL 2021.

Overwatch League 2021 playoffs - Schedule

Before we even get to the LAN events, teams will compete in online regional play-in matches (West and APAC) starting on 4th September, before qualified teams move to compete at the Esports Stadium Arlington on the 16th in a double-elimination format.

The Grand Finals are scheduled to be held this upcoming 25th September at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.

Overwatch League 2021 playoffs - Format

From the West region, the top three teams in the overall standings will qualify for the playoff bracket, meanwhile, the East (or APAC) side of things will get two direct spots for the playoffs. 

The remaining three spots will be decided via a regional online single-elimination qualifier. Two teams from the West will qualify, and one from the East region, giving us our eight teams to compete at Arlington.

On the West side of things, the single-elimination bracket will follow a similar format to the one already seen in the play-ins for regional tournaments. Seeds 6th through 9th will compete against them, with the 6th seed picking their opponent. They'll move on to play against the 4th and 5th seeds, with the 4th able to pick who to face.

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The East bracket is simpler, 4th and 5th seed will get to play, with the winner facing against the 3rd seed to compete for a spot in the playoffs.

Overwatch League 2021 playoffs - Prize pool

This is the current breakdown of the $3.2 million prize pool for the Overwatch League 2021 playoffs:

• League Champion $1,500,000
• Runner-up $700,000
• Third Place $350,000
• Fourth Place $250,000
• Fifth Place $200,000
• Sixth Place $100,000
• Seventh and Eighth Place $50,000

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