Coronavirus forces OWL to cancel months of Chinese homestands

gabhernandez Published 30/01/2020

Following the cancellation of numerous public gatherings due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, the Overwatch League has finally made the decision to cancel all of its February and March games in China.

Five homestands will be cancelled as a result of the decision. This will scrap Shanghai’s week two homestand, Guangzhou’s weeks three, six, and seven homestands, and Hangzhou’s week four homestand. 

Fans were uncertain what action Blizzard would take, but it is clear from the announcement on Twitter that the matches will be played, but uncertainty remains as to when and where. This information will be released at a later date.

Chinese OWL teams already taking coronavirus precautions 

Several teams have already taken steps to ensure that the virus doesn’t affect their players. The Guangzhou Charge, Shanghai Dragons, and Chengdu Hunters have already told fans the steps they are taking to safeguard their players’ health. The Hangzhou Spark have not yet issued any statement on the matter.

This shakeup will be an additional hurdle for Chinese teams to overcome. With the new format this year, teams will be exposed to a new travel schedule, and this adds another layer of difficulty to the mix. The uncertainty and sudden shift in schedule could cause teams to falter both in confidence and in performance.

The coronavirus has been a serious epidemic in China, with the death toll rising over 170 since Tuesday. The number of infections has reached over 7,700 reported cases around the world. China now has more cases of the coronavirus than it did SARS. 

With a rapidly increasing death toll and Chinese authorities taking the coronavirus very seriously, Blizzard has little choice but to cancel the first Chinese homestands. Because matches were meant to be played in week two, fans can expect news of when and where those matches will be played in the near future.

Read Also

Slots

This is how to play the Fury of Anubis slot and land the 10,000x max win Ian John Ancient Egypt has proved to be a fertile breeding ground for exciting and innovative slot games. This is a slot theme that has literally hundreds of releases attached to it, but Pragmatic Play's latest effort could genuinely be one of the finest in recent years. Fury of Anubis is set to release on 25 June, 2026, and it combines a unique take on the genre with a mesmerising max win ...

Esports Betting

After a perfect split, C9 might lose LCS playoffs for the 8th time in a row Ben Boland After going 7-0 in the regular season, Cloud9 lost to LYON in the LCS Spring Split playoffs. Despite dominating through the entire split, they now sit in the loser’s bracket after a 3-0 loss. This wouldn’t be alarming for any other team. However, this is already the story of Cloud9’s last seven splits. C9 completed the regular season of the LCS Spring Split 2026 without dropping a single match. In ...

Slots

Here is what to expect from the thrilling upcoming Fury of Anubis slot release Hannan Mundia Pragmatic Play is preparing to launch the brand-new Fury of Anubis slot. It is set to be one of the most ambitious slot releases of 2026, and here’s everything slot enthusiasts can expect when it comes out. While a handful of themes really shine in the online slot world, the Egyptian theme is a standout. Some slots have gone on to become fan-favorites by incorporating this theme, and Pragmatic Play ...

Kick

Rainbet becomes Kick’s first official slot category sponsor Khizar Mundia In what has been a hugely busy few months for the Kick streaming platform — which included starting to test adverts — Rainbet has now been confirmed as a sponsor of the slot vertical. Following an initial backlash over ads, Kick co-founder Eddie Craven called adverts “inevitable” after roughly four years of the platform keeping the user experience clean. The livestreaming platform then saw one of its first ads on ...

News

We played BC.Game’s Crash and this is what we found Conn Mc Gillion Crash has fast become one of the most popular casino games around, with crypto casinos all over offering their version of it. The concept focuses on simplicity, and this is just part of its appeal. BC.Game's Crash is part of their Originals line-up and we recently spent some time playing it to understand exactly why the format works. To go with our BC.Game Crash review, we tried both gaming modes (classic ...

Big Wins

Trainwreckstv breaks record with $50 million win on Coins and Cauldrons Hannan Mundia Trainwreckstv has been streaming online slots for years now, but nothing has been more impressive than his record-breaking $50 million Coins and Cauldrons win. Train proved once again why he’s one of the largest figures by making history. His recent win on Coins and Cauldrons had the streamer break his personal record, as well as a record in the online gambling scene, and it helped that the win was live ...

News

Betting on the World Cup: Top promos & bonus codes to use ahead of kick-off Ian John The 2026 World Cup starts runs from 11 June and 48 teams will start the biggest World Cup in history with the aim of succeeding Argentina as the newly crowned Champions of the world. As befitting the biggest sporting event of the year, many crypto betting sites with World Cup markets are running a wide range of different promotions and offers especially for the tournament. Here we will be taking ...