Call of Duty League teams will have between seven and 10 players. Players are guaranteed a base salary of $50,000 and they also have healthcare and retirement benefits. Teams aren't required to provide players with housing, but they must show the league proof that they're helping players find their own housing during the season.
Teams can earn additional prize money during the season, and each franchise is required to split at least 50% of those prizes with players. Activision posted more of the details on the official competitive Call of Duty Reddit page.
The full roster of cities and ownership groups are:
Call of Duty League matches will be played on the PlayStation 4 version of "Call of Duty Modern Warfare" in a 5-on-5 team format.
Teams will play best-of-five matches during the regular season and the teams with the best win-loss records will advance to a double elimination playoff bracket to decide the league champion. The regular season will begin in on January 24, 2020 and the Call of Duty League Championships will conclude in August or September 2020.
During each week of the Call of Duty League season, a different team will play host for multiple league matches in their home city. The schedule is divided into two splits for the spring and summer seasons, with the championship planned for August or September 2020. A midseason event in April will also feature all 12 teams.
Call of Duty League's world tour is an impressive undertaking for its inaugural season. Overwatch League teams spent most of their first two seasons playing matches in Blizzard's Burbank, California, arena, with a handful of special events held in different cities.
Not all of the Call of Duty League teams have confirmed where they'll be hosting their matches, but some have confirmed that they'll be using multiple venues during the season.
Call of Duty League franchise owners paid $25 million or more to secure their place in the Call of Duty League, according to ESPN's Jacob Wolf. While Call of Duty has a long history of international esports events, Activision's decision to build a franchised league with a limited number of slots offers a higher value to investors who want to monetize esports in a similar fashion to traditional sports leagues.
The Overwatch League negotiated multi-million-dollar media contracts with ESPN and Amazon's Twitch streaming service, and the league secured major sponsors like Coca-Cola, Intel, and Toyota.
Activision's decision to franchise Call of Duty League left lots of esports teams without a place for their "Call of Duty" players to compete. Several organizations that couldn't raise the investment money for a Call of Duty League franchise spot dissolved their "Call of Duty" teams entirely, including 100 Thieves, the team that came in second place at the 2019 Call of Duty World League Championship.
It is with a very heavy heart we announce that 100 Thieves will not be participating in competitive Call of Duty in 2020. pic.twitter.com/cdJD9DdUvQ
— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) August 29, 2019Call of Duty Challengers will include online ladders, online tournaments, and open tournament event competitions throughout the year starting this month, and Call of Duty League has committed more than $1 million to the prize pool.
The league also says several pro teams will host their own competitions to spur amateur player pipeline in their home cities. You can find more information on Call of Duty Challengers events and future League events on the official Call of Duty League website.
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