Call of Duty League


The Call of Duty League is a professional esports league for the video game series Call of Duty, produced by its publisher Activision. 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. In addition, the league plays in a tournament point system and playoffs format rather than the use of promotion and relegation used commonly in other esports and non-North American leagues, with players on the roster being assured a minimum annual salary, benefits, and a portion of winnings and revenue-sharing based on how that team performs. The League was announced in 2019 with its inaugural season starting in 2020. The events are hosted by teams in their home cities, beginning with the Launch Weekend event hosted by the Minnesota ROKKR and taking place in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 24–26, 2020.

Format

The Call of Duty League is owned by Activision Blizzard and is the 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.
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, , 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. 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.
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. 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. A total prize pool is available to teams in the inaugural season. To standardize play at each homestand weekend, Activision constructed a transportable esports stage with input from each of the teams. 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.
Each team must have a minimum of seven players with a maximum of ten. Players are guaranteed a minimum 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.
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 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.

Midseason Changes to SnD and Domination Round Times

On February 14, 2020, the CDL announced changes to the competitive formats of the Search and Destroy and Domination game modes. Each round of Search and Destroy would be one minute and thirty seconds instead of two minutes; and each round of Domination would last five minutes, down from six minutes. The changes went into effect on February 17, 2020.

History

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. To prepare for establishing the League, Activision terminated the Call of Duty World League in mid-2019.
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. All twelve franchises were finalized in October 2019, with a majority of the franchised having never professionally competed in Call of Duty. The Washington Post estimated that the franchise cost was.
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.
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. Activision also announced other official sponsors of the league on eve of the first season: On March 9, Activision announced partnerships with both Twitter and the United States Army.
On March 13, 2020, the Call of Duty League released a statement entailing that all live home series events were cancelled due to concerns over the novel COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak, to which they said that upcoming events will be done via online play and possibly return to live events if logistically and feasibly possible. On May 19, 2020, the Call of Duty League announced changes to the 2020 Call of Duty League Championship. Instead of 8 teams making it to the Championship weekend all 12 teams would now compete for the Championship in a double-elimination tournament. A prize pool was announced, with the winning team taking home.
On July 5, 2020, the Call of Duty league announced that the postseason would also be played online as a result of the pandemic. Additional measures to further protect the competitive integrity of the league were also announced. All competitors are to be provided with a universal camera which will need to be activated throughout all matches with the camera providing league officials visibility each competitor's console, controller and monitor.

Teams

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. 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.
TeamLocationVenueJoinedOwner
Atlanta FaZe Atlanta, GA, United StatesGateway Center Arena2020Atlanta Esports Ventures, FaZe Clan
Chicago Huntsmen Chicago, IL, United StatesWintrust Arena2020NRG Esports
Dallas Empire Dallas, TX, United StatesToyota Music Factory2020Envy Gaming
Florida Mutineers Orlando, FL, United StatesAddition Financial Arena2020Misfits Gaming
London Royal Ravens London, United KingdomCopper Box Arena2020ReKTGlobal, Inc.
Los Angeles Guerrillas Los Angeles, CA, United StatesShrine Exposition Hall2020Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
OpTic Gaming Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, United StatesShrine Exposition Hall2020Immortals Gaming Club
Minnesota ROKKR Minneapolis, MN, United StatesMinneapolis Armory2020WISE Ventures
New York Subliners New York City, NY, United StatesPulse Esports Gaming Arena2020Andbox
Paris Legion Paris, FranceLa Seine Musicale2020c0ntact Gaming
Seattle Surge Seattle, WA, United StatesWaMu Theater2020The Aquilini Group
Toronto Ultra Toronto, CanadaMattamy Athletic Centre2020OverActive Media

2020 regular season

CDL 2020 Launch Weekend

London Royal Ravens Home Series

Teams not in attendance: Atlanta FaZe, Florida Mutineers, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles, Minnesota ROKKR.
Group A
Group B
Finals

Atlanta Faze Home Series

Teams not in attendance: Dallas Empire, Los Angeles Guerrillas, New York Subliners, Seattle Surge.
Group A
Group B
Finals

Los Angeles Home Series

Teams not in attendance: Chicago Huntsmen, London Royal Ravens, Paris Legion, Toronto Ultra.
Group A
Group B
Finals

Dallas Empire Home Series

Teams not in attendance: Atlanta FaZe, London Royal Ravens, New York Subliners, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles.
Group A
Group B
Finals

Chicago Huntsmen Home Series

Teams not in attendance: Florida Mutineers, Minnesota ROKKR, Paris Legion, Toronto Ultra.
Group A
Group B
Finals

Florida Mutineers Home Series

Teams not in attendance: Chicago Huntsmen, Dallas Empire, Los Angeles Guerrillas, Seattle Surge.
Group A
Group B
Finals

Seattle Surge Home Series

Teams not in attendance: Atlanta FaZe, Dallas Empire, Florida Mutineers, Toronto Ultra
Group A
Group B
Finals

Minnesota RØKKR Home Series

Teams not in attendance: London Royal Ravens, New York Subliners, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles, Paris Legion.
Group A
Group B
Finals

Paris Legion Home Series

Teams not in attendance: Chicago Huntsmen, Los Angeles Guerrillas, Minnesota ROKKR, Seattle Surge.
Group A
Group B
Finals

New York Subliners Home Series

Teams not in attendance: Dallas Empire, Florida Mutineers, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles, Seattle Surge.
Group A
Group B
Finals

Second London Royal Ravens Home Series

Teams not in attendance: Atlanta Faze, Chicago Huntsmen, Minnesota ROKKR, Toronto Ultra.
Group A
Group B
Finals

Toronto Ultra Home Series

Teams not in attendance: New York Subliners, London Royal Ravens, Paris Legion, Los Angeles Guerrillas.
Group A
Group B
Finals

Standings

2020 Playoffs & Championship Weekend

Elimination Round 1

Winners Round 1

Winners Round 2

Elimination Round 2

Winners Round 3

Elimination Round 3

Winners Round 4