Call of Duty League GM Daniel Tsay speaks out on CDL expansion Call of Duty LeagueWith CDL rosters shifting and the Paris Legion officially moving to Las Vegas, there is guaranteed change for the Call of Duty League\u2019s 2023 season. Less guaranteed, though, is the timeline fans should expect for expansion. Expansion has remained a regular talking point within the CoD esports community since the dawn of the CDL (and, simultaneously, its franchised, city-based league model) in 2020. In 2019, 32 different teams competed in the CoD world championship. In the three years since, the all-defining tournament has been restricted to between 8-12 organizations. Missing the previous era\u2019s storylines and expanded talent pool, fans have clamored for more franchise spots to be doled out. According to CoD esports general manager Daniel Tsay, fans are not the only ones thinking about expansion. While assuring that the league is primarily \u201cfocused on the 12 awesome teams that we have,\u201d he explained that there remains interest in bringing more organizations into the fold\u2014if the fit is right. Call of Duty League \u201centertaining expansion\u201d In a way, the CDL has expanded into new territories with the Legion\u2019s move to Las Vegas, Nevada. But that came at the cost of losing a Paris team, much like the Chicago team that disappeared upon OpTic\u2019s merger with the Dallas Empire. While intrigued by relocations, fans have been more interested in outright expansion\u2014which the CDL\u2019s Activision-Blizzard sister league, the Overwatch League, underwent with a shift from 12 teams to 20 back in 2019. When asked if the CDL was actively pursuing expansion to fill said openings, Tsay was noncommittal but confirmed there is interest: \u201cRight now, we\u2019re welcome to entertaining expansion and we do receive interest from outside organizations.\u201d The vetting process for CDL expansion While unable to discuss the specifics of interested \u201coutside organizations,\u201d Tsay did shed light on the CDL\u2019s thought process regarding new partners. \u201cThat is the most important thing: making sure we have strategic partners that will help grow the Call of Duty League.\u201d And, with regards to those orgs that have shown interest, he clarified that \u201cobviously there\u2019s an evaluation process with that to make sure they\u2019re the right fit.\u201d As far as that \u201cfit,\u201d a number of factors likely come into play. Being willing to meet the league\u2019s multimillion-dollar franchise fees is one thing, but another aspect may be geographical presence. When discussing the Vegas move, Tsay emphasized that \u201cVegas is obviously one of the fastest-growing sports markets.\u201d Further, he elaborated that having a team there is \u201cawesome\u201d for the org, but also for the CDL as a whole: \u201cWe want to be in really attractive regions \u2026 we just wanted to make sure that we place franchises in the best possible cities\u201d Patience is a virtue Considering the past few years of CoD esports, it seems clear that the game\u2019s talent pool is deep enough to add more pro-level teams. On the amateur side, former journeymen like Zack \u2018Drazah\u2019 Jordan have made names for themselves while young rookies like Amer \u2018Pred\u2019 Zulbeari have surged out of Challengers and into the limelight. Conversely, on the veteran end, legends like Ian \u2018Crimsix\u2019 Porter, James \u2018Clayster\u2019 Eubanks, and Sam \u2018Octane\u2019 Larew have turned the clocks back and won CDL championships. Although more Challengers upstarts are making their debuts in 2023 (like the Toronto Ultra\u2019s Thomas \u2018Scrappy\u2019 Ernst and Boston Breach\u2019s Ben \u2018Beans\u2019 McMellon), others have yet to get their chance and vets like Crimsix have consequently retired. From a talent level, there are likely enough players ready to play at the top level without decimating league parity. From a location level, community wishlists paint a similarly promising picture. As the Legion moved to Las Vegas and OpTic to Texas, the cities of Paris and Chicago are now left open \u2014 not to mention other touted locales like Washington D.C., and Madrid, Spain. Ultimately, though, the CDL launched during a tumultuous period\u2014both economically and socially\u2014so it\u2019s easy to see why expansion hasn\u2019t taken hold as quickly as it did with the OWL. Nevertheless, as Tsay explained, the league is focused on putting its best product forward right now, while performing its due diligence and vetting interested franchise candidates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Call of Duty League GM Daniel Tsay speaks out on CDL expansion Call of Duty LeagueWith CDL rosters shifting and the Paris Legion officially moving to Las Vegas, there is guaranteed change for the Call of Duty League\u2019s 2023 season. Less guaranteed, though, is the timeline fans should expect for expansion. Expansion has remained a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}