After months of hype, the Call of Duty League’s first season is finally starting. The first round of action begins during the Launch Weekend event, which starts on Friday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There will be 12 teams competing altogether, and the season will run for around 25 weeks. Call of Duty League’s inaugural series will feature two splits for the regular season, along with a mid-season tournament, and of course, playoffs.
https://twitter.com/CODLeague/status/1219741919397531655
Here is a quick breakdown of how the Call of Duty League works.
Game: Teams will be battling it out on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. This installment of the franchise was released in October of 2019.
Console: All of the professional Call of Duty gamers will be playing and competing with a PlayStation 4.
Teams: The Call of Duty League is featuring a city-based team structure. Altogether, 12 teams are competing in the league, hailing from four different countries, which includes the United States, Canada, France, and the UK. The teams are:
Atlanta FaZe, Chicago Huntsmen, Dallas Empire, Florida Mutineers, London Royal Ravens, Los Angeles Guerrillas, Minnesota Røkkr, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles, Paris Legion, Seattle Surge, and Toronto Ultra.
Each team will be charged to host tournaments during the regular season. The schedule is still being worked out for the both splits, but it looks like teams will each host two events. This Launch Weekend event, which takes place this Friday, January 24, to Sunday, January 26, will be hosted by the Minnesota Røkkr.
League Structure: Each team will compete for CDL Points, and they will earn them by winning matches against other teams. And the higher they place in each event, the more they’ll make. Call of Duty League will also be using a tournament structure starting Week 2 of the season. To read a more in-depth breakdown of how CDL Points work and how the tournament structure comes into play, click here. Every week, different teams will face off against each other in predetermined matches and game modes.
There has been a lot of investment into this new city-based Call of Duty esports league. There have been reports that each team was bought for around $25 million. Activision, who is spearheading this league, has really doubled-down on creating a first-class experience. The hope for all involved is to bring Call of Duty esports into the forefront; the investors and Activision have the vision to catapult this league into the sporting mainstream.
