The roster of two-time Overwatch APEX champion Lunatic-Hai will be moving from its home in Seoul, South Korea, to participate in the inaugural season of Overwatch League in Los Angeles should a deal go through with KSV Esports, sources close to both parties told ESPN.
KSV Esports is the owner of the Seoul Overwatch League franchise spot.
If the agreement is completed, the team will relocate temporarily to Los Angeles in the fall, with games set to take place starting in the last few months of the year. In future Overwatch League seasons, when teams leave L.A. to represent their respective cities, the South Korea group will return to Seoul.
Sources told ESPN that Lunatic-Hai will be allowed to complete the current season of APEX, which concludes Oct. 21, just two weeks before BlizzCon, Blizzard's annual game convention in Anaheim, California.
Lunatic-Hai's participation in future APEX seasons is undetermined, but it's unlikely given potential scheduling conflicts between APEX and the Overwatch League, sources said.
This likely won't be the only South Korean Overwatch team to take a deal with one of the Overwatch League organizations, sources said.
The agreement comes shortly after the opening of the Overwatch League signing period, which began on Aug. 1 and saw many teams begin making moves to procure the best talent for the league. Teams will have until Oct. 31 to recruit players for their rosters.
KSV Esports co-founder Kevin Chou told VentureBeat in July that he planned to sign an all-Korean staff and roster. He later clarified to Akshon Esports that the roster would be announced in the coming weeks.
"What's important is our plan to hire an all-South Korean management team and an all-Korean roster," Chou told VentureBeat. "We want to make sure people in Seoul feel like this is their team. And the players will represent the home territory. My belief is this will be as big as pro sports in the U.S. with the size ranging from MLS to the NFL."
Over the course of 2017, Lunatic-Hai has been, to many analysts, the best team in Overwatch. After a fifth-eighth finish in APEX Season 1 at the tail end of 2016, the team bounced back and dominated seasons 2 and 3, taking first place in both with victories over RunAway and Kongdoo Panthera. The team has also placed well internationally, taking second at both Intel Extreme Masters Gyeonggi and APAC Premier 2016.
KSV Esports declined to comment on this report.