The Call of Duty League confirmed the new format of the 2020 Call of Duty League Championship Tuesday. In the new format all 12 teams in the league will compete in a double-elimination tournament that is scheduled for August 2020.
A "bubble" system has been rumored for the next CDL season. But could it work? (Photo courtesy MLG)
Teams will be awarded byes in the format based off their placing in the regular season. The top two teams will be automatically seeded into round three of the winner’s bracket and skip the first two rounds of bracket play. The third and fourth teams will be automatically seeded into round two of the winner’s bracket and skip the first round of bracket play.
The fifth-seventh teams will be seeded into round 1 of the winner’s bracket and play each other in bracket play. The bottom four teams will automatically be placed into the loser’s bracket and fight for their chance to stay in the tournament.
The bottom four teams were not originally invited to the event, so the new format gives struggling teams a guaranteed spot in the Championship.
The prize pool for the Call of Duty League Championship guarantees a cash prize for every team except the bottom two teams. The first-place winner will win $2,000,000 while the second-place team still takes home $1,000,000. The third-place team will win $500,000, and the fourth-place team will win $300,000.
The fifth-tenth place teams will win $200,000- $75,000 based on their placement, and the final two teams will receive no cash prize.
The Toronto Ultra, Seattle Surge, New York Subliners, and Los Angeles Guerrillas are in the bottom four spots in the Call of Duty League standings. The teams still have time to improve their standings before the Championship and will all be competing at the Seattle Home Series event on May 22nd-24th.
