Blizzard has announced that the postseason for the Overwatch League will now be an entirely behind-closed-doors affair. Revealed in a tweet, Blizzard noted that the growing concerns of international travel has forced the league to pivot from hosting playoff events in Dallas and Los Angeles, leading it to return to Hawaii to run the conclusion of the 2021 season.
In the statement, OWL VP Jon Spector said, "Unfortunately, since we originally announced plans for the postseason, the environment has changed significantly. After continued consultation with our teams, we are no longer confident that all of them would be able to travel to the United States with their full rosters. We have therefore made the difficult decision to pivot from live events centered around Dallas and Los Angeles and will instead return to Hawaii for postseason competition. We will share more details in the coming days about how this will work, including, updated dates for playoffs."
Considering the major international events all season have been held in Hawaii, this decision is not all that surprising, but it would be great seeing some of the games taking place at an earlier time, as most of the Hawaii-based matches have taken place in the early morning for most of Europe.