2023 Call of Duty League season explained

2023 Call of Duty League season
League:Call of Duty League
Sport:
Duration:December 2, 2022 – June 18, 2023
No Of Teams:12
Mvp:Paco "HyDra" Rusiewiez
Season2:Stage Champions
Season Champ2 Name:Stage 1
Season Champ3 Name:Stage 2
Season Champs3:Atlanta FaZe
Season Champ4 Name:Stage 3
Season Champs4:Toronto Ultra
Season Champ5 Name:Stage 4
Season Champs5:Los Angeles Thieves
Season Champ6 Name:Stage 5
Season Champs6:New York Subliners
Finals:Grand Finals
Finals Champ:New York Subliners
Finals Runner-Up:Toronto Ultra
Finals Mvp:Matthew "KiSMET" Tinsley
Prevseason Link:2022 Call of Duty League season
Prevseason Year:2022
Nextseason Link:2024 Call of Duty League season
Nextseason Year:2024

The 2023 Call of Duty League season was the fourth season of the Call of Duty League, an esports league based on the video game franchise Call of Duty.

Teams

!Team!Location!Venue(s)!Joined!Owner
Atlanta FaZe Atlanta, GAGateway Center Arena2020Atlanta Esports Ventures, FaZe Clan
Boston Breach Boston, MAMGM Music Hall at Fenway2022Kraft Sports Group
Florida Mutineers Orlando, FLAddition Financial Arena2020Misfits Gaming
London Royal Ravens London, UKCopper Box Arena2020ReKTGlobal, Inc.
Los Angeles Guerrillas Los Angeles, CAShrine Exposition Hall2020Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
Los Angeles ThievesGalen Center2021100 Thieves
Minnesota ROKKR Minneapolis, MNMystic Lake Casino Hotel2020WISE Ventures
New York Subliners New York City, NYKings Theatre2020NYXL
OpTic Texas Dallas, TXEsports Stadium Arlington2020OpTic Gaming
Seattle Surge Seattle, WAWaMu Theater2020The Aquilini Group
Toronto Ultra Toronto, ONMattamy Athletic Centre2020OverActive Media
Vegas Legion Las Vegas, NVThomas & Mack Center2020c0ntact Gaming

Regular season

The 2023 CDL season began on December 2, 2022. Teams competed in five Majors throughout the season, culminating in the Call of Duty Championship tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. The five Majors were played in Raleigh, Boston, Arlington, Columbus, and Toronto.[1] The Minnesota ROKKR also hosted two home series matches in Madison, Wisconsin and St. Paul, Minnesota during the Stage 4 and 5 qualifiers.

Stage 1

Stage 1 group stage began on December 2, 2022, and ended on December 14.

Group stage

PosTeamOverall SeriesOverall Games
1Minnesota ROKKR3–110–6
2Toronto Ultra3–110–7
3Atlanta FaZe2–29–8
4Boston Breach2–29–8
5Los Angeles Thieves2–29–8
6London Royal Ravens2–29–8
7OpTic Texas2–28–8
8Los Angeles Guerrillas2–28–9
9New York Subliners2–27–8
10Florida Mutineers2–27–9
11Seattle Surge1–37–10
12Las Vegas Legion1–36–10

Major

The Stage 1 Major ran from December 14 through December 18, 2022, at the Raleigh Convention Center. All twelve CDL teams, alongside four Challengers teams, competed against each other. The teams were put into four groups of four, with three CDL teams and one Challengers team in each group. Teams played the other three teams in their group once, with the top two from each group advancing to a double elimination bracket.[2]

Group A

PosTeamOverall SeriesOverall GamesQualification
1New York Subliners2–06–0Winners Round 1
2Minnesota ROKKR2–16–4
3Los Angeles Guerrillas1–24–6
4Decimate Gaming0–20–6

Group B

PosTeamOverall SeriesOverall GamesQualification
1Toronto Ultra2–06–2Winners Round 1
2Florida Mutineers2–18–6
3OpTic Texas1–25–8
4Pollodrom0–23–6

Group C

PosTeamOverall SeriesOverall GamesQualification
1Atlanta FaZe2–06–2Winners Round 1
2Seattle Surge2–16–3
3LAG Academy1–25–8
4London Royal Ravens0–22–6

Group D

PosTeamOverall SeriesOverall GamesQualification
1Los Angeles Thieves2–06–3Winners Round 1
2Las Vegas Legion2–18–7
3Elevate1–26–8
40–24–6

Bracket

Stage 2

Stage 2 group stage began on January 13, 2023, and ended on January 29.

Group stage

PosTeamOverall SeriesOverall GamesQualification
1OpTic Texas4–113–10Winners Round 1 Seed
2Toronto Ultra4–113–5
3Boston Breach3–213–8
4New York Subliners3–212–8
5Minnesota ROKKR3–210–9
6Atlanta FaZe3–211–10
7Los Angeles Guerrillas2–311–11
8Los Angeles Thieves2–38–11
9Florida Mutineers2–39–13Losers Round 1 Seed
10Las Vegas Legion2–38–12
11Seattle Surge1–48–13
12London Royal Ravens1–47–13

Major

The Stage 2 Major ran from February 2 through February 5, 2023. The Major was hosted by Boston Breach.

Stage 3

Stage 3 group stage began on February 17, 2023, and ended on March 5.

Group stage

PosTeamOverall SeriesOverall GamesQualification
1Seattle Surge4–113–5Winners Round 1 Seed
2Boston Breach4–113–8
3Toronto Ultra3–212–7
4Atlanta FaZe3–211–7
5Los Angeles Thieves3–212–8
6New York Subliners3–29–8
7OpTic Texas3–29–9
8Los Angeles Guerrillas2–310–12
9Las Vegas Legion2–39–12Losers Round 1 Seed
10London Royal Ravens2–39–13
11Florida Mutineers1–46–13
12Minnesota ROKKR0–54–15

Major

The Stage 3 Major ran from March 9 through March 12, 2023. The Major was hosted by OpTic Texas.

Stage 4

Stage 4 group stage began on March 31, 2023, and ended on April 16.

Group stage

PosTeamOverall SeriesOverall GamesQualification
1OpTic Texas5–015–3Winners Round 1 Seed
2Los Angeles Thieves4–113–5
3Seattle Surge4–113–6
4New York Subliners4–113–7
5Las Vegas Legion4–113–9
6Atlanta FaZe3–211–11
7Minnesota ROKKR2–39–10
8Boston Breach2–38–12
9Toronto Ultra1–410–12Losers Round 1 Seed
10London Royal Ravens1–45–13
11Los Angeles Guerrillas0–54–15
12Florida Mutineers0–54–15

Major

The Stage 4 Major ran from April 20 through April 23, 2023. The Major had no host.

Stage 5

Stage 5 group stage began on May 5, 2023, and ended on May 21.

Group stage

PosTeamOverall SeriesOverall GamesQualification
1OpTic Texas5–015–3Winners Round 1 Seed
2Atlanta FaZe4–112–5
3Toronto Ultra3–212–7
4Boston Breach3–211–8
5Minnesota ROKKR3–212–9
6New York Subliners3–212–9
7Las Vegas Legion3–211–11
8Florida Mutineers3–29–9
9Los Angeles Thieves1–48–12Losers Round 1 Seed
10Seattle Surge1–45–13
11Los Angeles Guerrillas1–45–13
12London Royal Ravens0–52–15

Major

The Stage 5 Major ran from May 25 through May 28, 2023. The Major was hosted by Toronto Ultra.

Championship

The 2023 Call of Duty League Championship took place from June 15 through June 18, 2023. The top eight teams from the regular season standings competed in a Double Elimination bracket.[3]

Grand finals

The 2023 Call of Duty League season Grand finals were held on June 18, 2023. It was best of 9 (first to 5).

Broadcast and viewership

In early 2020, Activision Blizzard signed a three-year broadcasting rights deal with YouTube, making the streaming platform the exclusive broadcasting partner for the CDL. The 2023 CDL season marks the first season since the expiration of the deal.[4] In December 2022, the CDL announced that it would be broadcasting the entirety of the season exclusively on Twitch and its official website.[5]

The opening weekend of the 2023 season saw record viewership. The highest viewed match was OpTic Texas versus the Florida Mutineers, which reached a peak of over 190,000 on Twitch. The peak viewership made it the fourth-most watched CDL match of match of all time, only behind the three championship matches from 2020 to 2022.[6] [7]

Notes and References

  1. News: Patraw . Zack . Call of Duty League Major IV Location Update . April 19, 2023 . . February 24, 2023.
  2. News: Koh . Wanzi . CDL 2023 Major I: Schedule, results, and where to watch ONE Esports . December 20, 2022 . One Esports . December 8, 2022.
  3. Web site: Post Season Bracket . 6 August 2022.
  4. News: SBJ Unpacks: Call of Duty League heads into season without media deal . December 20, 2022 . . November 30, 2022.
  5. News: Lyons . Ben . Call of Duty League to stream on Twitch . December 20, 2022 . . December 2, 2022.
  6. News: Appleford . Danny . CDL's opening weekend viewership on Twitch shows CoD esports more alive than ever heading into 2023 . December 20, 2022 . . December 5, 2022.
  7. News: Ivan . Šimić . Call of Duty League records 190,000 viewers upon returning to Twitch - Esports Insider . December 20, 2022 . Esports Insider . December 5, 2022.