The first ever Call of Duty League (CDL) season will see its schedule scaled back by Activision Blizzard after it was reported that franchises who also own Overwatch League (OWL) teams are concerned they will be “overwhelmed.”
In a tweet from Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern, he says that Call of Duty League “is expected to hold fewer events in [2020] than originally anticipated, as part of its switch back to a tournament model.” Activision Blizzard announced on December 24 that tournament play would be returning alongside the home and away league format, but this was initially perceived to be due to fan feedback regarding the excitement and success of previous CoD events which were all in a tournament format.
However, according to Stern’s sources it now seems that the decision to reschedule is also part of a downsizing effort to take the load off of franchises who will be using their home venues for both CDL and OWL events throughout the year.
The initial CDL schedule would have seen each team host two home weekend events each throughout the regular season. With the announcement on December 24, we now know that each franchise will now only host one event weekend during the season which will be in a tournament format, consisting of eight of the twelve teams. However, the opening weekend in Minnesota that launches the CDL will be an exception.
‘@CODLeague is expected to hold fewer events in ’20 than originally anticipated, as part of its switch back to a tournament model.
➖ Move was made in part because some teams were becoming overwhelmed at the prospect of hosting both CDL and @OverwatchLeague events, per source. pic.twitter.com/j9Tdiky5lK
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) December 31, 2019
The first tournament-style weekend will now be in London on February 8-9.
The full breakdown of the revised schedule can be found here.
Ten out of the twelve CDL franchise owners also have spots in OWL, with London Royal Ravens and Minnesota Rokkr being the only teams with owners who don’t have any Overwatch obligations.
While many fans welcome the return of tournament play, it is also slightly unnerving to see so many big changes less than a month before the league is set to start.
