The new season of the Call of Duty League, Call of Duty’s franchised esports competition, is set to commence today and will be available on streaming platform Twitch.
The League has never been present on Twitch since it was founded in 2020, when the competition signed an exclusive deal with Youtube. The league will also be streamed through the Call of Duty League website.
According to news shared by the League, the competition will no longer be available on YouTube.
Founded in 2020, Call of Duty League has 12 city-based teams, similar to other large American leagues like the NFL and NBA. The franchises are often owned by notable esports organisations that are present in other esports titles. This includes Atlanta Faze (Cox Enterprises and FaZe Clan), OpTic Texas (OpTic Gaming), Los Angeles Thieves (100 Thieves) and Toronto Ultra (OverActive Media).
The League is operated by Activision Blizzard, the owner of the Call of Duty game franchise. Blizzard also owns Overwatch and the Overwatch League, which was also a part of the exclusivity deal with YouTube.
The original partnership between Activision Blizzard and YouTube was set to end in 2023, with Call of Duty’s announcement highlighting that both parties have seemingly not agreed on an extension. Since the League will not be available on YouTube at all, it remains to be seen how the decision will affect viewership in the future.
In terms of viewership, Call of Duty League saw its peak audience in 2020 with 330,000 viewers. The 2022 CDL playoffs attracted 275,000 viewers, with last season’s champion being the Los Angeles Thieves.
The Call of Duty League’s new season will officially kick off on December 2nd, with the competition’s first LAN event taking place on December 15th in Raleigh.
