Several Call of Duty League teams and professional players have hinted at the return of LAN events on social media today. The CDL has not made an official announcement, but in-person tournaments might be back soon.
Several teams have posted a short clip of the Call of Duty League Tag Generator. Usually, this creates a randomized name based on a few questions, but each team showed the same tag: BACK2LAN.
The Call of Duty League has not featured a LAN event since the COVID-19 pandemic moved the league to an online format early last year. Since then, each event has been online with teams competing remotely.
This has led to some connection issues and questions of how online play has affected the league’s competitive integrity. Some vocal fans claim certain teams are only winning because of the online format and wouldn’t perform the same way on LAN.
Regardless of opinions about online or offline play, multiple teams making announcements about returning to LAN is significant. Multiple professional players have also expressed their excitement about returning to a LAN environment.
But the Call of Duty League has not officially announced the return of LAN events. CDL caster Joe “MerK” Deluca also claimed that returning to LAN is news to him, indicating it might not be official just yet.
The Call of Duty League will likely make an official announcement soon if the events are returning to LAN. Fans might get a chance to see their favorite team compete in person by the end of the 2021 season.