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, 2019