It was reported recently that the Call of Duty League (CDL) had their eye on number of potential owners who are interested in buying expansion teams. The goal to up the amount of geo-located franchises, similar to Activision Blizzard’s other property, the Overwatch League (OWL). CDL opened this season with 12 teams, while OWL is now up to 20 teams. Unfortunately, the impact of COVID-19 has led the company to push back any feasible expansion until 2022. In lieu of this, ESPN reveals a return to their original business plan for offline events in a city-based league.
CDL will remain city-based throughout season 2 in 2021 and revisit expansion talks in 2022, presumably when COVID-19 is less of a factor. The league will also revert back to a four-versus-four format just a year after changing to a five-versus-five format. It’s been established now that no new teams will join the CDL in the foreseeable future, so this presents problems for players who will essentially be nixed from the league following this change. Every franchise must cut a player from their roster, and these players will have nowhere to go within the CDL. Classify, member of 100 Thieves Twitch stream team The Mob, tweeted out his thoughts on the CDL reverting back to a four-versus-four format and how it will affect players.
This change was probably meant to go hand in hand with the league expansion but the impact of COVID-19 has derailed a lot of plans within the esports and gaming world. The new season will also be played in the next iteration of Call of Duty, being Call of Duty: Cold War. For more on CDL season 2, follow the league’s official Twitter page.