Call of Duty League Recap: Who’s In and Out of the CDL?
It’s been a flurry of news over the past several weeks, with multiple potential CDL teams either having their spots confirmed or detailing their departure from the scene including Cloud 9 and 100Thieves.
With the rumors, confirmations, and drama going on as the scene moves into franchising, it can be hard to keep up with everything going on, so let’s break it down.
What We Know So Far
So far, we know of nine teams and cities entering the franchise system, with a mysterious 10th team rumored to be going to LG in Seattle according to CoD Intel’s Twitter.
The rumor is somewhat surprising considering there was an article a few weeks back saying both they and Gen.G were out of the scene, which proved true for the latter.
The other nine cities/states getting teams, though, are New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles (which has two teams), Toronto, Paris, Minnesota, Dallas, and Florida.
Of those spots, only three belong to return teams from the pre-franchise era, with EnVy, Spylce, and a new Immortals-owned OpTic taking Dallas, Toronto, and one of the LA spots respectively.
While it is nice to see old orgs make it into the new era, it’s concerning how many were denied or decided it wasn’t worth applying. This includes FaZe, Reciprocity, Evil Geniuses, Midnight, Heretics, 100Thieves, and dozens more.
Orgs already accepted into the franchise system are allowed to start picking up players. They don’t have to wait for all of the teams to be solidified (Activision wants 12 teams for the inaugural season).
This has sparked a bit of controversy among team owners and the community. The system gives an unfair advantage to teams accepted earlier than others, according to a post from eUnited’s GM, with the first couple of teams likely to pick up the strongest squads for the upcoming year.
This is especially bad for teams already with squads waiting to hear back from Activision if they’re in or not. They’ll have to decide whether to try and hold the players and hope they get in or attempt to sell them in case they don’t before it’s too late.
There’s a lot to be concerned about but also a lot to look forward to in the coming months, as the final details when it comes to CDL teams and their rosters are hammered out for next year, and the community waits with baited breathe for all the dominoes to fall in line.
As always, we’ll keep you all updated as more information comes to light.
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