Call of Duty League will not pursue expansion in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic

The Call of Duty League 2020 concluded with Dallas Empire crowned as champions. However, reports suggest the competition will have its plan altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An ESPN report has suggested that the Call of Duty League will not expand before the 2021 season.

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Call of Duty League expansion affected by COVID-19 pandemic

Moving away from its initial business plan, the ESPN report hinted that the change in Call of Duty League expansion plans is not due to the lack of interest from potential new franchise partners. Instead, both the league and team owners are interested in showing the original city-based offline event business plan they had in mind initially, before recruiting additional franchises for a higher sum. Barring a few server issues and late online patches, the Call of Duty League had a relatively solid season.

Earlier reports had even mentioned expansion plan for the Call of Duty League, with CDL commissioner Johanna Faries saying that prospective team owners are interested in buying expansion franchises. While Faries had insisted that currently, they will focus on 12 teams, the great demand that Call of Duty League is seeing is a sign of the great health of the product.

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On Friday, the Call of Duty League commissioner also said that breaking the viewership records during CDL 2020 proves that the event is in its nascent stage. Notably, the final of CDL 2020 saw a record 331,000 concurrent viewers on YouTube. Hinting at going ahead with 12 teams for next year’s edition as well, Faries admitted that they will remain focussed on the 12 teams and do right by the demand at an appropriate time in the future.

Thus, ESPN hinted that the Call of Duty League expansion will now not be pursued next year. Like most eSports competitions this year, the CDL 2020 also has had to shift to organizing everything online, rather than in-person events. 

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However, the league hopes to begin selling franchise slots for the 2022 season from next summer onwards. Prices for the same weren’t mentioned in any of the media reports. Season 1 franchise prices for the Call of Duty League were $25 million, reported by ESPN in March 2019. Last week, London Royal Ravens executive management had expressed their desire to make their way into Europe, with the league currently having only two teams from the continent.

This report about Call of Duty League expansion plans being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t the only one to make news recently. In other Esports news, it was revealed that Season 2 will be played on the next version of the popular franchise “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War”. The tournament will revert back to 4v4 model after trying out the 5v5 format for the CDL 2020 season.

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Image Courtesy: Call of Duty League Twitter