Activision Blizzard has revealed full details for the upcoming Call of Duty (CoD) League, including a new League City Circuit for fans to get involved with.
Fans will be able to compete on behalf of their pro team cities, in this new casual competition system, either online or via LAN (local area network) tournaments held exclusively by the 12 Call of Duty League teams.
This means fans of the London Royal Ravens will be able to get involved with them on a more casual level and compete against fans in other cities.
This fan-focused competitive circuit – set to launch later in 2020 – will feature a duos-based format in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare mode ‘Gunfight’. The League City Circuit carries its own prize pool and will culminate in a finals event at the Call of Duty League Championship Weekend.
The main CoD League itself is scheduled to start home-vs-away 5-vs-5 professional match play in early 2020, with 12 teams in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Florida, London, Los Angeles (2), Minnesota, New York, Paris, Seattle, and Toronto, in addition to select League-run major events throughout the season. Matches will be best-of-five and played on Modern Warfare for PS4.
Each team in the league will host two ‘Home Series’ weekend events in their respective markets in 2020, one in a spring split and a second in a summer split. So Royal Ravens fans can look forward to some London-based events next year.
Pro teams with the best win-loss records will advance to the postseason, where they will compete in a double elimination playoffs until the season champion is crowned. Playoff berths will include two wild card slots, and both the playoffs and championship matches will take place at the Call of Duty League Championship Weekend in Summer 2020.
“We’ve partnered with top-tier organisations to entertain fans in unique ways. Together, we seek to bring incredible experiences to our pro, amateur, and fan communities, and to blaze new trails for the future of sports entertainment.”
Johanna Faries, Commissioner, Call of Duty League
In between the spring and summer splits, the League will also host a special Call of Duty League Midseason Weekend event where all 12 teams will be featured in all-pro tournaments, among other activities.
In addition to pro play, the League will aim to foster the growth and development of emerging player talent with Call of Duty Challengers, its amateur path to pro competition system.
Call of Duty Challengers will include online ladders, online tournaments, and open tournament event competitions throughout the year beginning in November 2019, with a dedicated prize pool of over $1m. Several Call of Duty League pro teams will also support amateur player pipeline development by hosting Call of Duty Challengers competitions in their markets.
Activision Blizzard said: “Call of Duty League’s vision is to engage fans in dynamic ways across all 12 team markets and beyond. Home Series Weekends will showcase the best Call of Duty esports players in the world as well as the unique energy and passion of teams’ local fanbases.”
“It is an honour to introduce the Call of Duty League, built to reimagine what esports can be,” said Johanna Faries, Commissioner of the Call of Duty League.
“We’ve partnered with top-tier organisations who share our commitment to supporting the best players in the world and to entertain fans in unique ways. Together, we seek to bring incredible experiences to our pro, amateur, and fan communities, and to blaze new trails for the future of sports entertainment.”
The full roster of cities and ownership groups are:
- Atlanta, GA – Atlanta Esports Ventures, a joint venture owned by Cox Enterprises and Province, Inc.
- Chicago, IL – NRG Esports
- Dallas, TX – Envy Gaming, Inc.
- Florida – Misfits Gaming
- London, United Kingdom – ReKTGlobal, Inc
- Los Angeles, CA – Immortals Gaming Club (IGC)
- Los Angeles, CA – Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
- Minnesota – WISE Ventures
- New York, NY – Sterling.VC
- Paris, France – c0ntact Gaming
- Seattle, WA – The Aquilini Group
- Toronto, Canada – OverActive Media
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
