After a long wait for players and fans, the Call of Duty League confirmed today that it will return to hosting LAN events later this year. The CDL said on Twitter that it’s coordinating with teams for LANs to return for “select events” this season.
The Call of Duty League moved to an online-only format beginning in early 2020 in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic. The last offline CDL LAN event was the week four home series of the 2020 season, in Los Angeles, in March. There, the Dallas Empire beat the Minnesota RØKKR in the finals—and the Empire eventually won the online championship at the end of the season.
Several CDL franchises hinted that a return to LAN was approaching yesterday, with some being less subtle than others. Atlanta FaZe posted a short video of a CDL tag generator generating the tag “BACK2LAN.” Chicago OpTic just straight up posted “back to LAN” from its account.
The return of LANs is a welcome one to most of, if not all members of the Call of Duty League. Numerous players have expressed their excitement over a return to the familiar setting. Online connection problems and competitive integrity issues have been a burden on an otherwise exciting year of Call of Duty League action.
The Overwatch League also announced today that it will host a few live events in China during the 2021 season.
Players and fans will be anxiously waiting for the first official dates of CDL LANs to be revealed.
