Launch Weekend for the Call of Duty League has ended, and teams are starting to look towards future events. The next tournament is in London starting on Feb. 8 and will have eight teams in attendance. Among those teams are the Chicago Huntsmen, Dallas Empire, and Paris Legion.
However, according to professional player Patrick “Aches” Price, the teams in attendance and the groups they’re placed in may all be fixed by the CDL. Aches brings forth some troubling allegations that, if true, seriously damage the competitive integrity of the new league.
Fixed event claims
The Launch Weekend is one of the only times that all teams will be in attendance at an event. Usually, there are eight teams at a tournament, and each team is placed in one of two groups. These groups play each other, and then the event moves into the knockout phase. Whoever wins all of their matches in the knockout phase becomes the champion of that event.
While this all seems harmless, pro player Aches alleges the CDL has fixed how the groups are organized. He explains his thoughts in this tweet:
https://twitter.com/ACHES/status/1221895100080381952
According to Aches, both the Atlanta FaZe and Chicago Huntsmen are never placed in the same group. The two teams are both in attendance at eight of twelve events, and not once are they in the same group. This means that they can only play each other when the stakes are highest in the knockout stages.
Furthermore, this is the only occurrence of two teams not being in the same group throughout the entire season. So, while it’s possible this is an error, it looks like a fishy move by the CDL. One could argue this is for boosting viewership numbers. Atlanta and Chicago are arguably the two biggest brands in the league, being FaZe and NRG (former OpTic).
So, it does seem like the CDL wants these two brands to only play each other when it matters most. This also helps to ensure neither one knocks the other out in the group’s phase. Neither the league nor Activision has yet to comment on the matter.
Make sure to keep up with Daily Esports for all CDL coverage.
