The Overwatch League Playoffs started last night, bringing the best teams from the West and the East divisions together to fight it out for the title of the 2021 OWL Champion. The event itself will run until this Sunday (for us in Europe) with the final concluding at 2:00 BST / 3:00 CEST on the 26th, but even with all that to look forward to, Blizzard has announced a few changes for the next season.
There is now a defined plan set in place as for when the many teams need to have their rosters locked in and ready for the 2022 season. Following the conclusion of the grand finals, teams can begin submitting trades to the League Office for review, and can likewise start re-signing or extending players for the next year. The latter will have to be done by October 2, otherwise players will become free agents (able to sign to whichever team they like) from October 9.
On October 10, teams can begin picking up free agents for the 2022 season, and they must start getting a move on with this as teams are required to have five players signed to a year-long contract by January 3, 2022, and six members by March 1, 2022.
This has all been set in place to gear the teams up for an April start to the 2022 season.
You can read a bit more into this plan, even the very minor changes to how player contracts work here.
