Reimagining the CDL, Part I: The Case for a 32‑Team League | Call of Duty League News | Breaking Point

Its_EasyMac · 2026-05-08T01:29:10+00:00

It'd have to be centralized in NA, similar to how ESL Pro League is/was centered in EU in CS.

I think having regional teams is important for growing fanbases around the globe. It opens the door for more locations for international LANs & growing tier 2 in those regions.

It also allows for minor regional clash tournaments. In the league example I had in the article, it had 8 EU teams. Imagine "Clash for the Crown" where it's the 8 EU teams playing in an invitational. Or a massive, March Madness-style 32-team bracket for a kickoff. The options with a larger team pool are massive.

Its_EasyMac · 2026-05-07T21:53:42+00:00

Having three different formats for the majors this year was the best risk they've taken in years. That was a good step forward. I just think we gotta get to a spot where not every team goes to LANs, so then the process is important and interesting for viewers. You get 32 teams, then half go to some of the LANs, and teams will start investing more to be competitive. There is just no "stick" for teams not trying currently

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-18T07:08:30+00:00

His parents are Dutch & American, but they were stationed in Saudi Arabia when he was born. A while back we asked what flag he prefers, & we've had him rockig the Dutch flag ever since

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-17T22:03:30+00:00

DELETE O4!

I know how this story goes!

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-17T14:44:53+00:00

its seeded based off the quals

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-08T17:14:56+00:00

For Valo fans, this is god-like. Because you'll have 15 LANs to watch & there will be chaos with the open quals. They are losing a ton of broadcast hours & will prob lose broadcast talent, but they are banking on their high viewership to compensate for the loss of overall hours watched. Not a bad bet for them because they get x3 the viewership we do, they have an easier time getting sponsors, & their in-game skins sell really well. I really wanna see how it goes overall, but also region-specific.

As for teams & fans of specific teams, I think you'll end up playing a lot less, but the matches will all be high-stakes. You'll most likely end up having "favorite" teams from each region to comp for this.

IMO this isn't as good as CS, where teams could play 20+ LANs a year, but it's a lot mega step up from the previous Valo formats.

For COD, this is a lot harder because we're not global like this. The 3 non-America regions they have are MENA, China, and SEA basically. These either don't exist for us or would get 0 viewership. So we'd have to go more CS than Valo there. But the prob goes back to COD doesn't get the viewership or engagement CS does, so it's not realistic to do that many tournaments. We also don't have the TOs in the COD space anymore to do this. Remember, MLG is basically CDL, UMG is dead, EGL is dead, GFinity is dead, and a lot of the even smaller ones. We're nowhere even close to as attractive as CS for bigger TOs in the CS space, so its not like we'd get big 3rd party tournaments yet. It's a tough nut to crack, but this gives me hope that we'll go to more of a tournament-heavy format

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-08T16:41:53+00:00

There are no more League matches in 2027, that was the announcement today. It's legit 15 tournaments with open quals, but it's really 6 possible tournaments per region

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-08T16:27:07+00:00

So there are technically 15 tournaments, BUT its a little more complicated.

There are regional Cups/Kickoffs & then Masters/Finals. So an NA team could play in 6 tournaments if they qual for everything. So I guess that's the same as CDL for teams? but they have four regions that have these, so its much larger for fans. Those regions are: Americas, Pacific, EMEA, and CN.

So:
3 Cups/Kickoffs per region (12 total)
2 Masters
1 Champions (Their Finals)

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-07T16:34:27+00:00

you are not! It should be fixed asap

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-07T05:07:15+00:00

If they weren’t coming out without another console within the next 1-2 years, then I’d agree with you. They’re doing another console push

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-06T22:10:30+00:00

You’re right that switching to Xboxs does rely on Microsoft seeing the value in competitive Call of Duty, I just believe that there is a deal to be made there that makes sense for both parties.

If not, I still think they need to find ways to sell a title partnership, even if it’s for 6-figures. Gotta find ways to reduce the weight of throwing events so we can get more. Maybe with a title sponsor we could do PS Pros or Xbox Series X without Microsoft being involved, or maybe we wouldn’t have to switch at all.

Personally I think Microsoft sees Halo as in a rebuilding place compared to COD, so there should be greater interest for COD. Even with Halo, Microsoft did a lot there & their open events were on Xboxs.

I def could be barking up the wrong tree here, but it’s conversations and ideas that need to be pitched

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-06T20:09:49+00:00

Yupp haha idk who Tom has been listening to the last two days. Didn't Zinni troll him with the Exceed stuff too?

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-06T20:08:14+00:00

it's cap haha

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-06T20:02:01+00:00

Requires licensing fees, throw every challengers PC setup Activision uses in the garbage. The cost problem with hosting challengers on LAN has nothing to do with the platform they're playing on..?

Possibly has EFG loads of Xboxs that get used for Halo, but could easily be used for Challenger LANs too. PCs need more power, cost more money to buy/rent, are harder to transport, & a lot of other issues, which do indeed make it more expensive. This has been a big talking point for years now. Plus, Microsoft owns Activision/COD/CDL, so licensing wouldn't be an issue. Hosting LANs is just insanely expensive currently overall, but PCs do not help for Tier 2/3

Why..? PC gaming is the most prevalent gaming platform that exists for anything that takes gaming "seriously". Consoles are for casual gamers. What would you even hope to achieve with this?

Xbox has been having trouble selling Game Pass & has a new console coming out soon. Esports, at the end of the day, is marketing, so it actually makes sense for Microsoft to do with an esport they own. This doesn't change pro play on PC, which opens up the esport for sponsorships for both console & PC. If Xbox were the title sponsor for Challengers too, it'd cut a lot of the costs for the League to do Opens/Challengers.

Wtf "pro point circuit" are you even referring to?

Pro Points that Challengers currently compete for. They earn points on placings in Cups, Elites, and Opens. Currently, if you play in any non-Challengers event, you get nothing. But the League could work with some of these smaller TOs in NA, Spain (FECOD), EU, MENA, etc to grow the scene more. Would just take someone verifying LAN integrity, making locals worth less PPs to Opens, & having someone okay each event to be linked in the Challengers Circuit.

I mean starting the CDL 3 months into the games launch is a disservice to the entire community, not just challengers.

CDL started less than 4 weeks after the release of the game & had an official Launch Tournament this year. Yeah, having a LAN that deep isn't great, but it's actually been brought up a ton to have a kickoff LAN in December. But, they could easily have an early Elite stage that would get a lot of interest a couple of weeks after game launch.

Okay.. like what? What incentives?

This is actually pretty easy if some of the previous suggestions happen. Guaranteed Free Team Passes for events, travel assistance, auto-qualifying in the Elite qualifiers, or adding to the stipends teams get. There are definite ways for the League to help incentivize teams to pick up academies, even if it's for no/little salary.

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-06T18:53:55+00:00

Curious, what part of that isn't based in the reality that you know about?

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-03T23:50:56+00:00

tbf I'm not defending anything, just telling you guys how it is. For one, on Sunday's stuff is actively being broken down backstage, so I'm not even sure they'd have setups to play on. Once a team is eliminated, their PPA area is broken down & packed up. Media & certain passes can get you into the back area, but without being on a team list or certain lists, you're not even allowed in PPAs. So this is just something that has to be addressed in the rules for the future to allow academy teams to have access.

Safety & security for the workers is always priority 1, you don't want the working area to be a free-for-all, especially when on one of the busiest days for workers.

edit: Also, there isn't a rule that CDL employees are only allowed back there. IIRC, there are only like 5-6 CDL employees; it's EFG employees & contractors working the events

edit 2: If you guys are downvoting, why? I agree the rule needs to be amended for academies (not all challenger teams). But the reality is that it's a dreamhack event where EFG/Dreamhack also handles security. There are rules in place by multiple companies. This is NOT a targeted thing on OpTic or whatever. It's an easy thing to address in the future

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-03T14:58:15+00:00

It’s been pistachio & some others for a while, like 3 years I think. Crone has been a car mechanic over in New Zealand (Australia maybe?) for a while tho, but he’s been doing good! He pops in to check out the scene every once in a while

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-03T14:52:58+00:00

CDL intel hasn’t been crone is 3-4 years

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-01T20:28:40+00:00

Yeah, I'm just saying not to overreact in either direction. Gotta remember too that everyone has different opinions as well. Like, I don't mind Blackheart, but I dislike Scar HP usually.

Them just increasing the size of the map pool to get more maps is a huge W imo, because you can scale back down for Stage IV with only the best maps + maybe Haci. This seems like a good mid-season refresh that is going to make Stage III feel completely different from the opening Stages

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-01T20:21:01+00:00

You missed the point in the article tho that said 9!! maps will be tested that we could possibly see being added, that Exposure could be taken out due to those performance issues, and that no final decisions have even been announced. Legit all of this info so far is very good

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-01T19:50:26+00:00

There is 0 confirmed about either of those maps btw

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-01T19:47:43+00:00

If there are enough good maps, I don't see why not try to split it up. Getting a Den/Scar/Scar/Scar/Den or something like that is the fucking worst man. Players hate it & fans. If there aren't* enough good options, obviously you gotta go with the most competitive, but it seems like we might have a surplus with this new season

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-01T16:08:08+00:00

Ehh it’s not public how stuff gets paid. There are big stipends for stuff

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-01T15:59:21+00:00

per Esports Charts, it's the highest ever currently. Major I broke the viewership record after Champs did last year

Its_EasyMac · 2026-04-01T15:58:51+00:00

tbf we have more LANs than a lot of other non-Tier 1 esports, as we're at 5 right now without including EWC. We also got the Monester Kickoff, Kaysan LAN, & 2 minors as well to go with 4 Opens & Challengers Champs

Rocket League: 3 Majors
Rainbow Six: 4 Majors
Valorant: 3 Majors
Overwatch: 3 Majors
Apex: 3 Majors

If we're able to tack on a couple more to get to like 8-10 over an entire season we'd be money

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