Seattle, London, and Chicago Earn CDL Franchise Spots
Big news out of the Call of Duty scene this morning as Seattle, London, and Chicago have all been announced to have earned CDL franchise spots for the 2020 Call of Duty League (CDL).
The new teams revealed the news today on Twitter, bringing the total Call of Duty franchises up to 12 so far.
Ownership
Along with announcing the spots today, the teams also revealed who their ownership groups would be, causing a stir in the community over some rather surprising choices.
The Vancouver Titans and Canucks hockey team were announced as the joint-owners of the Seattle spot, while NRG was revealed for the Chicago one after revealing the team through their Twitter.
The biggest surprise, however, was the London spot going to REKT Global, owners of Vegas-based esports team Rogue, instead of the Cloud9-owned London Spitfire.
Many were surprised Cloud9 would let their market go to another team in another Activision league, while others were confused why Rogue picked up London instead of the rumored Las Vegas slot.
Given the team also acquired a European League of Legends franchise spot in the LEC earlier this year, some have begun to question whether the org is planning on rebranding itself into an EU org, though nothing on the matter has been commented on by Rogue or REKT at this time.
Beyond 12
While the announcement of these three squads would seem to finally be the end of waiting on cities to get teams, it appears the wait may not be over yet.
According to Apocc, Head of CoD operations for FaZe Clan, an additional seven franchises may be coming to the league this year, bringing the total to a surprising 19 spots.
Given the monetization and ROI issues with the league, the massive number of groups looking to get involved is rather surprising, but the high interest can only be good for the scene.
Leagues with odd numbers of teams in them are also rather uncommon, so that last spot could be pushed back to the second year of the system, much like what was rumored to have happened in OWL.
As of this time, only rumors of CDL franchise spots in Las Vegas and Washington D.C. have emerged, though we’ll continue to follow the situation as more continue to pop up over the coming days and weeks.
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