Call of Duty League

The Call of Duty League is owned by Activision Blizzard as that company's second franchise-based esports organization. The league plays out similar to most North American professional sports leagues, in which all teams play scheduled games against other teams to vie for position in the season's playoffs, rather than the approach of team promotion and relegation more commonly used in other esports leagues. The league currently features twelve teams.[4]

Each match between two teams consists of a best-of-five through different games based on gameplay modes and maps within the Call of Duty game. The inaugural season used the 2019 release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, played on standard PlayStation 4 consoles and other equivalent equipment for all players. The three multiplayer modes used by the CDL include: "Search & Destroy", where one team attempts to plant a bomb and defend it at one of two control points while the other team tries to eliminate the bomb team, or if the bomb is activated, to defuse it in time; "Hardpoint", where a rotation control point appears on the map, and teams earn points for maintaining control on that point; and "Domination", where three control points appear on the map, and teams are awarded points by maintaining control of one or more of these points. In the case of "Search & Destroy" and "Domination", multiple rounds are played, switching the role of each team, while "Hardpoint" is played until a point limit is reached. Once a team has won three games in a match, the match is over, and that team given the match victory.[5] Coaches for teams have a limited number of time outs which they can use during a game, and can substitute players during this time; this is in contrast to the OWL format where play substitutions may only occur between games.[6]

The 2020 season schedule is evenly divided into two splits for spring and summer, with a mid-season all-star event taking place after the spring split, and culminates in the Championship Weekend.[4] Each team will host a weekend tournament-style event in their home city, and the top teams from the weekend earns points. The top eight teams at the end of season based on points claim a berth in the playoffs.[7] A total US$6 million prize pool is available to teams in the inaugural season.[8] To standardize play at each homestand weekend, Activision constructed a transportable esports stage with input from each of the teams.[6] To support viewership, Activision studios Infinity Ward and Beenox created a server architecture for the Call of Duty games, the CODCaster, that enables a match to be viewed from multiple different angles and identify which angles have the most exciting action to follow, as to allow the commentators and producers of the broadcast events to help show key action in the match. CODCaster also compiles key in-game statistics, and is able to render the team's characters in their team's colors for the viewing audience, though players themselves will not have this benefit.[6]

Each team must have a minimum of seven players with a maximum of ten. Players are guaranteed a minimum US$50,000 salary with health and other benefits, though players may negotiate for higher salaries. At least 50% of the winnings a team earns must be shared with the team members. Players are not required to live in the city/region that the team represents. Teams are not required to providing housing for players during the season, and if they do not choose to offer it, the team must instead offer a means and stipend to help players to find such housing with approval from Activision.[9]

Activision also established a Call of Duty Challengers series for amateur players to compete in matches and potentially be played into teams that vie for a US$1 million prize pool alongside the main League season. This provides the League teams with a pool of talent that they can draw from for their teams.[4]

In February 2019, Activision Blizzard officially confirmed their intention to launch a city-based, franchised league for Call of Duty, marking their second such organization following the Overwatch League, founded in 2017.[12][13] To prepare for establishing the League, Activision terminated the Call of Duty World League in mid-2019.[14]

The first five teams to purchase a spot for the league was announced in May 2019; the companies – OverActive Media, Atlanta Esports Ventures, Envy Gaming, c0ntact Gaming LLC, and Sterling.VC – were also parent companies for teams in Activision Blizzard's other franchised league, the Overwatch League.[15] All twelve franchises were finalized in October 2019, with a majority of the franchised having never professionally competed in Call of Duty.[16] The Washington Post estimated that the franchise cost was US$25 million.[14]

Initially, the CDL announced that they would be running a regular season format culminating in postseason playoffs. However, after criticism from the Call of Duty esports community, the league elected to switch to a tournament system, which was officially announced in January 2020.[17]

In the days prior to the launch of the inaugural season, Activision announced it had made a multiyear deal with Google for all of its esports content, including the CDL, to be exclusively shown through YouTube. Prior Activision esports, particularly OWL, had used Twitch.[18] Activision also announced other official sponsors of the league on eve of the first season:[19] On March 9, Activision announced partnerships with both Twitter and the United States Army.[20]

• PlayStation 4 as the official platform of the CDL and an official partner of the Call of Duty Challengers League.
• Mountain Dew Amp Game Fuel as the official beverage of the CDL through to the 2022 season.
• Astro Gaming as the official Headset and MixAmp provider through to the 2022 season.
• SCUF Gaming as the official controller of the Call of Duty League through to the 2021 season.
• United States Air Force will create on site opportunities for fans to experience flight simulators and other military activities on a one-year deal.
• United States Army as the presenting sponsor of Call of Duty Collegiate and to offer activities alongside the Air Force on site.
• Twitter as "the source for Call of Duty League highlights and community engagement."

The Call of Duty League follows the model of the Overwatch League as well as other traditional North American professional sporting leagues by using a set of permanent, city-based teams backed by separate ownership groups.[23] The CDL launched in January 2020 with twelve teams, each based in a global city. Of the twelve teams, nine are based in the United States, while the remaining three are based in Canada, the United Kingdom, and France.[24]

Team	Location	Venue(s)	Joined	Owner
Atlanta FaZe	Atlanta, United States	Gateway Center Arena	2020	Atlanta Esports Ventures, FaZe Clan
Chicago Huntsmen	Chicago, United States	Wintrust Arena		NRG Esports
Dallas Empire	Dallas, United States	Toyota Music Factory		Envy Gaming
Florida Mutineers	Orlando, United States	Addition Financial Arena		Misfits Gaming
London Royal Ravens	London, United Kingdom	Copper Box Arena		ReKTGlobal, Inc.
Los Angeles Guerrillas	Los Angeles, United States	Shrine Exposition Hall		Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
OpTic Gaming Los Angeles				Immortals Gaming Club
Minnesota ROKKR	Minnesota, United States	Minneapolis Armory		WISE Ventures
New York Subliners	New York City, United States	TBD		Andbox
Paris Legion	Paris, France	La Seine Musicale		c0ntact Gaming
Seattle Surge	Seattle, United States	WaMu Theater		The Aquilini Group
Toronto Ultra	Toronto, Canada	Mattamy Athletic Centre		OverActive Media

• Official website