The Call of Duty League (CDL) is a professional video game competition league for the Call of Duty series, created by its publisher, Activision. The CDL is similar to the Overwatch League and other traditional North American sports leagues. It uses city-based teams with their own owners, rather than temporary teams. The league uses a points system and playoff rounds instead of moving teams up or down in rankings, which is common in other leagues. Players on the team receive guaranteed yearly pay, benefits, and a share of prize money and income based on how well their team performs. The league was announced in 2019 and had its first season in 2020.

Format

The Call of Duty League is owned by Activision Blizzard and is the company’s second esports league based on franchises. The league operates similarly to most North American professional sports leagues, where teams compete in scheduled games to earn a place in the season’s playoffs, instead of using promotion and relegation systems common in other esports leagues. The league currently includes twelve teams.

Each match features two teams competing in a best-of-five format, with games based on specific gameplay modes and maps from the latest Call of Duty game. For example, the 2023 season used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022).

In the first season, the Call of Duty League used three multiplayer modes: "Search & Destroy," where one team plants and defends a bomb at one of two control points, while the other team tries to eliminate the bomb or defuse it if activated; "Hardpoint," where teams earn points by controlling a rotating control point on the map; and "Domination," where teams gain points by controlling three control points on the map. In "Search & Destroy" and "Domination," teams switch roles after multiple rounds, while "Hardpoint" continues until a point limit is reached. A team wins the match by winning three games. Coaches can use a limited number of timeouts during a game to substitute players, unlike the Overwatch League format, where substitutions only occur between games.

The 2020 season was divided into two splits: spring and summer. After the spring split, a mid-season all-star event was held, followed by the Championship Weekend. Each team hosted a weekend tournament in their home city, and the top teams earned points. The top eight teams at the end of the season qualified for the playoffs. A total of $6 million in prize money was available for the inaugural season. To ensure consistency at home events, Activision built a portable esports stage with input from all teams. To improve viewing, Activision studios Infinity Ward and Beenox created a system called CODCaster, which allows broadcasts to show matches from multiple angles, highlight exciting action, and display in-game statistics. CODCaster also displays team colors for players on screen, though players themselves do not see this benefit.

Each team must have at least seven players and no more than ten. Players receive a minimum salary of $50,000, along with health and other benefits, though they may negotiate higher pay. At least 50% of a team’s winnings must be shared with its members. Players are not required to live in the city or region their team represents. Teams are not required to provide housing for players during the season. If a team does not offer housing, it must provide a stipend to help players find housing with Activision’s approval.

Activision also created the Call of Duty Challengers series, where amateur players can compete and potentially join teams in the main league to earn a chance to win a $1 million prize pool. This gives league teams access to a talent pool for recruitment.

Since the 2021 season, the Call of Duty League uses a 4v4 format instead of the previous 5v5 format. The mode "Domination" was replaced by "Control," where one team attempts to capture two points on the map, and the other team defends them. A round ends if the attackers capture both zones within the time limit, if the defenders win by time expiring, or if either team kills the other thirty times.

The season is now divided into five stages, each ending with a Major Tournament. Teams are grouped by a draft system, and each team competes in every homestand event. The finals of each event feature teams from opposite groups. Teams earn CDL points during homestands, and the top eight teams at the end of the season qualify for the playoffs to compete for the CDL Championship.

Call of Duty Challengers

Challengers is the amateur group in competitive Call of Duty. It includes players who are trying to join the official Call of Duty League. In the 2020 Challengers season, there was a large prize pool of $1,000,000 given through tournaments. The Challengers division uses a system called "Pro points" or "Challenger points," which are virtual points earned based on a player's performance in tournaments. Because many players want to join the Call of Duty League, these points help identify the best players. This allows official teams, such as Optic Gaming or Seattle Surge, to create academy teams with top Challengers players. This helps teams build their brand and improve their performance based on how well their academy teams do.

Challengers events are held in person at special locations. These events usually happen at the same time as Call of Duty League events. The first event for Modern Warfare was the Minnesota Launch Weekend, where professional matches and Challengers events took place. Before this event, Challengers players must compete in two online tournaments to earn points. These points are individual, and the total points of all team members determine their ranking for the in-person events. However, during the 2020 season and starting in 2021, Challengers events moved online because of the COVID-19 virus. This changed the format so players now compete in weekly tournaments called "Cups" to earn prizes and points. In addition, the home series events, which were previously held in person, are now played online.

League advertising and viewership

Activision Blizzard, the company that publishes the Call of Duty video game series, started the Call of Duty League (CDL) and worked to make the league professional and well-organized. They first announced a partnership with Google, giving YouTube Gaming the right to stream all CDL matches exclusively. This was an important step because it allowed fans to watch the league from home. This became especially useful when the CDL moved to online-only matches due to the COVID-19 virus. The CDL’s growth happened at the same time as Activision Blizzard’s growth. Compared to the Overwatch League, which is another league owned by Activision Blizzard, the CDL earned more money and reached more people. The Overwatch League did not report significant revenue growth for the game or the league itself. In contrast, the CDL is based on the popular Call of Duty franchise. For example, the 2020 CDL Modern Warfare season made the game the top-selling game of the year, with 172 million downloads and $87 million in global spending within the first two months of release.

• The CDL has grown significantly since its first season. The opening weekend of the 2021 CDL season had 50% more viewers than the 2020 season, reaching 131,000 viewers at its peak.
• The average viewership during the 2021 season was 118,500, based on a highly anticipated match between Optic Chicago and Atlanta Faze.
• The entire weekend of matches in 2021 had an average of 80,000 viewers, making it the most-watched CDL event since the 2020 CDL Championship.
• The average viewership and total hours watched increased by 50% in the 2021 CDL season.
• A total of 1.3 million unique viewers watched the opening weekend of the 2021 CDL season, which was a 70% increase from the 2020 opening weekend.

History

In February 2019, Activision Blizzard officially announced plans to create a city-based, franchised league for Call of Duty. This was their second such league, following the Overwatch League, which began in 2017. To prepare for the new league, Activision ended the Call of Duty Pro League and Call of Duty World League in mid-2019.

In May 2019, five companies—OverActive Media, Atlanta Esports Ventures, Envy Gaming, c0ntact Gaming LLC, and Sterling.VC—were the first to buy spots in the new league. These companies were also the owners of teams in the Overwatch League. By October 2019, all 12 teams in the Call of Duty League were finalized. Most of these teams had never competed professionally in Call of Duty before. The Washington Post reported that each franchise cost about 25 million U.S. dollars.

At first, the Call of Duty League planned to use a regular season format that would lead to playoffs. However, after feedback from the Call of Duty esports community, the league changed its plan and instead used a tournament system. This change was officially announced in January 2020.

Before the first season began, Activision signed a multiyear deal with Google. This agreement meant that all of Activision’s esports content, including the Call of Duty League, would be shown only on YouTube. Previously, Activision’s esports events, such as the Overwatch League, were shown on Twitch. Activision also announced official sponsors for the league before the first season started. These included Twitter and the United States Army.

On March 13, 2020, the Call of Duty League announced that all live events would be canceled because of concerns about the novel COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak. Instead, events would be held online, and the league said it might return to live events if possible. On May 19, 2020, the league announced changes to the 2020 Call of Duty League Championship. All 12 teams would compete in a double-elimination tournament, instead of only 8 teams. A prize pool of 4.6 million U.S. dollars was announced, with the winning team receiving 2 million U.S. dollars.

On July 5, 2020, the Call of Duty League announced that the postseason would also be held online due to the pandemic. Additional rules were introduced to protect the fairness of the league. All players were required to use a universal camera during matches. This camera would allow league officials to see each player’s console, controller, and monitor.

On April 3, 2023, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard. Activision agreed to settle the case the same day. The settlement included rules that would prevent Activision from using a salary cap, luxury tax, or any other measure that could unfairly lower player salaries in the Overwatch League, the Call of Duty League, or any other esports league.

Teams

The Call of Duty League uses a system similar to the Overwatch League and other professional sports leagues in North America. This system includes teams that are based in specific cities and owned by different groups. The CDL started in January 2020 with twelve teams, each located in a city around the world. At that time, nine teams were in the United States, and the other three were in Canada, the United Kingdom, and France.

Over time, some teams have changed locations, joined with other groups, or been bought by new owners. Today, eight teams are in the United States, two are in Canada, one is in France, and one is in Saudi Arabia.

League Championships

By the start of the 2025 season, 14 different franchises have participated in the league, and four of them have won at least one Grand Finals title.

Stage Titles

This list shows how many stage titles each team has won. A stage title is earned by winning the main competition at the end of a stage. Stage titles were first introduced in the 2021 season.

Seasons

The regular season started on January 24 and ended on July 2020, with a two-week postseason playoffs in August to determine the season winners. Teams were supposed to hold in-person tournaments in their cities. Each event would include eight of the 12 teams. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only three homestand-style events were held. Team owners and players voted to move the league online for the rest of the season. The Grand Finals were also held online on August 30. The regular season number 2 seed Dallas Empire defeated the regular season number 1 seed Atlanta FaZe 5–1 to become the first Call of Duty League champions.

During the offseason, the Chicago Huntsmen were renamed OpTic Chicago. The OpTic Gaming Los Angeles franchise was sold to 100 Thieves, who formed the Los Angeles Thieves. The 2021 season had a structure similar to the previous season. Some changes occurred, including stages where teams were randomly grouped to play matches for CDL points. These points determined team seeds for CDL Major tournaments. Teams started in the losers or winners bracket based on their points. The 2020 CDL champions, Dallas Empire, made the first pick for group selection. The 2020 runner-up, Atlanta FaZe, made the second pick. A snake draft process was used until all teams were grouped. The top two teams from Stage 1 selected groups for Stage 2. The 2021 season had five stages before the CDL playoffs, the largest tournament with the biggest prize pool.

During the offseason, Dallas Empire and OpTic Chicago merged to form OpTic Texas. The Chicago franchise was sold to Kraft Sports Group and Oxygen Esports, who formed Boston Breach. The 2022 season followed a similar format to the previous season. All 12 teams were in one group and faced five other random teams in the Major Qualifiers. Atlanta FaZe finished as runners-up in three out of four Major tournaments and in the Call of Duty Championship Grand Final, losing 5–2 to Los Angeles Thieves, who won their first CDL World Championship.

During the offseason, the Paris Legion relocated to Las Vegas to become the Vegas Legion. The 2023 season followed the same format as the previous season, with an extra Major tournament added. The New York Subliners were the top team, winning Major 1 and 5 and the CDL Championship with a 5–0 victory over Toronto Ultra in the Grand Final.

During the offseason, the Florida Mutineers franchise was sold to Team Heretics, who formed Miami Heretics. The London Royal Ravens relocated to North Carolina to become the Carolina Royal Ravens. The 2024 season followed the same format as the previous season but with one fewer Major tournament. The 2024 CDL World Championship Grand Final ended with OpTic Texas defeating the New York Subliners 5–1.

During the offseason, the Los Angeles Guerrillas franchise was acquired by Gentle Mates, who renamed it Los Angeles Guerrillas M8. The New York Subliners spot was acquired by Cloud9, who renamed it Cloud9 New York. The Vegas Legion spot was acquired by Team Falcons, who renamed it Vegas Falcons. The 2025 season followed the same format as the previous season but added two online Minor tournaments during the first two stages. OpTic Texas became the first team to win back-to-back CDL World Championships, defeating Vancouver Surge 5–3 in the Grand Finals.

During the offseason, Atlanta FaZe relocated to Las Vegas to become FaZe Vegas. The Vegas Falcons relocated to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to become the Riyadh Falcons. Toronto Ultra renamed to Toronto KOI. Los Angeles Guerrillas M8 relocated to Paris and rebranded as Paris Gentle Mates, marking the first European franchise in the CDL since the Royal Ravens moved to Carolina. This season was the first since the CDL began where aBezy, Cellium, and Simp did not play on the same team. aBezy and Cellium joined Los Angeles Thieves and Riyadh Falcons, respectively.

For the first time since the 2022 season, a preseason event called the Monster Energy Invitational was held online. It included the 12 CDL teams and 4 Call of Duty Challengers teams in a double elimination bracket. The tournament was won by World Champions OpTic Texas.

In November 2025, the game mode "control" was removed, and "Overload" was added in its place.