Championship Date Announced By Call Of Duty League
Published: Jul 16, 2020
After weeks of anticipation, the Call of Duty League has finally announced when the 2020 CDL Playoffs and Championship Weekend will take place. Fans will be pleased to know that they’ll be able to watch their favourite teams competing from the 19th-23rd August in the playoffs; the early stages of the tournament. The four teams which make it through the playoffs will then proceed to play in the Championship weekend, which is scheduled to be held on the last weekend in August; the 29th-30th.
The league also made a further announcement, stating that a Call of Duty League Challengers Last-Chance Qualifier will also take place on August the 1st and 2nd, and this will come with a dedicated broadcast for the finals which are scheduled to take place between the 15th-16th August. Both tournaments will take place online, and there will be competitions held in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. A whopping $500,000 prize pool is offered for this secondary event, making sure there’s plenty for all teams to play for.
COVID-19 Forces A Last Minute Change of Plan
The Call of Duty League announced back on the 5th July that all events – for the remainder of the season – would be held online due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. While the decision was, at the time, met with criticism by many, it appears as though the league made a wise decision; there’s virtually no way it could be safely played out with today’s COVID situation. (Initially, the event – like in previous years – was scheduled to be a LAN event.)
The dates of the new tournaments wasn’t all the league had to say, however; they also announced that they’ll be completely reformatting the championship to take the form of a double-elimination tournament bracket. This will initially include all 12 Call of Duty League teams, and the top two teams will find themselves seeded automatically into the third round of the winners’ bracket. Subsequently, the third and fourth place teams will then be seeded into a secondary round, taking place within the same bracket.
Teams who finish in 5th through 8th position in the event will also be seeded into the first round of the winner’s bracket, while the remaining teams will go up in head-to-head elimination matches in a special bracket to kick off the tournament’s action.
The Biggest COD Event of The Year
The Championship Weekend is one of the most coveted events in the Esports industry, and despite facing a number of unique challenges the league appears to have handled the pandemic well. All teams will have the opportunity to reach the Championship Weekend, where they will – naturally – be trying to become the first Call of Duty League champions.
The payouts for the Championship Weekend are, as always, staggering. The winning team will walk away with a cool $1.5 million prize while the runner-up team will receive $900,000. The third place finisher will receive $600,000 while the fourth place finisher will receive $450,000. The remaining six teams that do qualify for a prize will then be awarded between $100,000 and $300,000 depending on their final placing in the event.
Image credits: Blizzard Activision
