New York Excelsior wants to build mixed OWL team

Multiple reports indicate that New York Excelsior is looking to build a team composed of both men and women. Despite criticism from the Overwatch League community about plans to build a mixed line-up, New York Excelsior seems to be going ahead with that plan and not listening to the critics.

Management has decided to continue recruiting and signing players, with a particular focus on genders that are not well represented in esports, i.e. women and people who identify as non-binary.

New players for New York Excelsior

The organization might have switched to a mixed-gender line-up to fill its ranks. Two prominent names in the Overwatch Contenders scene, Steven “Renko” Saucedo and Riley “cuFFa” Brown have hinted at signing with the New York Excelsior.

The signing of CuFFa and Renko would give the New York Excelsior tank and support, but the rest of the roster is yet to be completed. Sources have indicated that the team is still soliciting gameplay and video reviews from players in the Path to Pro scene, particularly players from underrepresented genders.

Criticism of New York’s plans

It’s not a secret that women are not being sufficiently promoted in esports and do not get enough opportunities to prove their talent. Therefore, many esports organizations have also founded women’s teams, in which other marginalized genders such as non-binary people or transgender are usually also allowed. Unfortunately, this has also caused debates in the community and there are still people who believe that only men have a place in esports.

New York Excelsior seems to aim to counteract all this by putting together a mixed line-up. While many Overwatch fans applaud the organization for wanting to ensure more diversity in esports, there are critics here too.

Some have pointed out that signing marginalized-gender players, especially if they are below the base Overwatch League experience level, could have a negative effect because the organizations aren’t about talent, just signing marginalized people. This in turn means that the mixed-gender team would fail in this case, which in turn would further exacerbate the negative view of women etc. in esports. On the other hand, the reputation cannot improve if nobody gets the chance to improve.

Ultimately, New York Excelsior’s Overwatch line-up isn’t set yet, but we can assume that the team will likely be announced next year, and after that, it’ll be exciting to see how they fare on the scene.

Header: New York Excelsior