Another Overwatch League now has a name. The Boston franchise, owned by Robert and Jonathan Kraft, will henceforth be known as Boston Uprising.
The team’s logo and colours (blue, yellow and black chosen to be in sync with the city’s flag) were also unveiled yesterday, and you can see this below:
The name of the team was ‘selected to represent the resilience of the region’s revolutionary forefathers, whose indomitable legacy laid the foundation for the great city of Boston’.
Robert Kraft, Chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group commented: “We are excited to unveil our team name, logo and colors for our newest sports property.
“Esports already has a large global audience, with Overwatch being among the most popular games with more than 35 million players worldwide. We look forward to introducing sports fans in Boston to the new Overwatch League with a local team they can support. We are also eager to use the Boston Uprising to introduce Boston and our franchise to the global community of esports. We are currently assembling a team that we anticipate will compete for championships, as Boston sports fans have come to expect from all of their professional teams.”
We now know the names and branding of five Overwatch League teams, with Boston Uprising joining the Shanghai Dragons, Dallas Fuel (Team Envy), San Francisco Shock (NRG Esports) and Los Angeles Valiant (Immortals). As a ruling of the OWL, teams were required to create a wholly new brand to participate, and as such the likes of Immortals, Team Envy and NRG developed new trademarks. Each franchise is believed to have cost in the region of $20m (£15.1m) in total to be paid over time, and there are plenty more requirements such as a minimum salary of $50,000 (£37,000) per annum for players.
The organisation had previously announced Chris “HuK” Loranger as its President of Gaming and is set to reveal the team roster for the inaugural season of the Overwatch League in the coming week.
Loranger noted: “The ability to represent the city of Boston is extremely exciting. We are also eager for the opportunity to show current and future Overwatch fans how skilled our players are and the importance of deploying a team-centric strategy to be successful. We are excited to start the season.”
Preseason begins on December 6th, whilst the season proper gets underway on January 10th next year. The finals are scheduled for July and will take place in Los Angeles.
For now though we’re still waiting to see on the names and colours of the remaining seven franchises; Los Angeles (yes, again), Houston, New York City, Miami, Philadelphia, Seoul and, of course, Esports Insider’s home city of London.
Esports Insider says: Despite the understandable criticisms levelled at the Overwatch League it’s hard not to feel a little excited as the new names and brands start pouring in. Boston Uprising is backed by the Kraft Group and the OWL is not short on such wealthy backers meaning expectations will be high across the board. This format is designed to get city residents who otherwise wouldn’t have cared to give esports a go, and careful branding selections like those by Boston Uprising should help. Let’s see what happens!