📝 OW Collegiate Championships to conclude in Orlando

The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) and Overwatch Esports announced Tuesday that the Overwatch Collegiate Championships (OWCC) will crown their winners in Orlando, Florida, in late April.

The festivities will be held at Full Sail University’s Orlando Health Fortress and its live venues from April 23-26.

This marks the first time the Overwatch Collegiate champions will be crowned since before the COVID-19 pandemic, when Harrisburg University defeated the University of Utah 3-1 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. This will also be the first Overwatch Collegiate LAN to feature the new format, splitting the competition into Varsity and Open brackets.

The top eight teams from the OWCC Varsity playoff bracket will qualify for the LAN. At the Grand Finals, they will be split into two groups of four for a double-elimination group stage. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals, and the final two teams will compete in a best-of-7 series.

The OWCC Varsity regular season just finished its third week of competition, with Winthrop University, North Carolina State University, and Briar Cliff University all undefeated so far in the superconference.

The first stage of the OWCC Varsity playoffs, Rounds of 24 and 16, will take place on March 30 and April 1.

The path to Orlando will be much harder for teams hoping to make it through the OWCC Open.

Online playoffs will kick off with the top 32 teams from the OWCC Open swiss stage being seeded into a single-elimination Round of 32 and 16. Once they reach the quarterfinals, it becomes a double-elimination format all the way to the finals, with only the grand finalists advancing to the LAN in Orlando.

The playoffs leading up to LAN will be streamed on the OW Esports Twitch and YouTube channels throughout the weekend of March 13-15.

OWCC Open Swiss-stage begins Thursday night at 8 p.m. EST, with the first round of matches on Wednesday morning.

In a statement, NACE Executive Director Riley Long shared his excitement about hosting the collegiate championships on LAN:

“This event reflects the pinnacle of Varsity competition, reinforcing the importance of our eligibility standards and in-person play requirements. Bringing Overwatch Collegiate to LAN through our partnership with Blizzard to showcase Varsity and Open competition is also an exciting addition to this year’s NACE Grand Finals.”

Long later confirmed with OWTV that the exact event schedule for the grand finals will be released sometime over the next few weeks, and that casters for the event will be on location.

This is partially due to assistance from Full Sail University and NACE member-program students, who will help with several aspects of the event’s operations.

“We’re honored to welcome the NACE Grand Finals back to Full Sail University. This championship represents the highest level of collegiate competition, and it also serves as a powerful hands-on learning experience for our students," Director of Esports at Full Sail University Sari Kitelyn said.

"Across production, esports management, live events, and creative teams, our students collaborate alongside esports-focused live event professionals to deliver a national event of such high caliber. That combination of elite competition and experiential education, paired with professional guidance, is what makes this partnership so meaningful.”

This is the third school year in a row that NACE will host its grand finals at Full Sail University. The overall event will also feature NACE’s grand finals for five of their other collegiate titles.

The entire event will be free for spectators to watch the action live in the venue.