Players, teams, personalities, and fans all across competitive Call of Duty are celebrating a wave of changes to the CDL aimed at making the competition more sustainable for the franchises involved.
As announced earlier today by Call of Duty League general manager Daniel Tsay, the CDL franchises have signed new long-term team agreements that focus on longevity and sustainability. The highlights of these new deals are the elimination and refunding of each team’s reported multi-million-dollar league entry fees, increased in-game item revenue and event subsidies, and a two-year minimum guarantee of revenue.
![CDL 2023 crowd at Esports Arena in Texas.](https://vip-develop.dotesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/cdl-optic-major-crowd-2023.jpg?w=640)
A majority of CDL teams have posted some sort of celebratory post or reply to the news. The teams, and more importantly the organizations behind those teams, have plenty of reasons to be excited. The entry fee removal will either relieve a large chunk of owed debt, or provide a sizable cash injection, or both, for each organization in the league. Combined with the increased revenue guarantees, organizations can stay involved at a significantly lower cost.
Farzam Kamel, the founder/CEO of NYXL, the ownership group behind the New York Subliners, said the new agreements should “make participation in CDL far more attractive for any org.” OverActive Media, the ownership group of Toronto Ultra, said this “landmark agreement … benefits all stakeholders.” The Miami Heretics franchise also said the deal will provide them with “solid financial footing” going forward.
The replies and retweets from players and content creators are overwhelmingly positive, with dozens and potentially hundreds of posts calling the moves a W. The announcement post on the @CoDLeague Twitter/X account is one of the most liked/viewed tweets in some time. Some fans are hoping to see the CDL switch to the more open format of years past now that entry fees have been removed.