Call of Duty League to refund all entry fees as part of new revenue-focused team agreements

As part of the newly restructured Call of Duty League team agreements, several new inclusions focused on providing revenue and economic relief to teams have been added “to ensure the success and longevity of competitive Call of Duty.”

According to an official announcement from Call of Duty League general manager Daniel Tsay today, the CDL is “redoubling efforts” to help its franchises succeed financially. This is reflected in four major changes made to team agreements.

Those changes are as follows:

1. All outstanding franchise entry fees will be eliminated and any fees previously collected from teams will be returned in full, injecting instant capital into all teams.
2. Teams will earn increased revenue tied to the sale of their in-game merchandise, as well as increased revenue from the yearly Champs bundle.
3. An increase in existing event subsidy amounts for teams hosting live, in-person events such as Opens, Majors, and Champs.
4. Teams will receive a two-year minimum guarantee of revenue to allow further investment from teams “with more peace of mind.”

Each team should receive back in full whatever portion of the roughly $25 million buy-in fee they’ve already paid, and any remaining amount of this buy-in fee has been wiped away. While the new team agreements don’t have an exact duration listed, OverActive Media (the ownership group behind Toronto Ultra) referred to the newly signed agreements as “long-term.”

The waiving of entry fees is a similar move that Activision Blizzard made with its other franchised esports league, the Overwatch League, before the league closed at the end of 2023. But it does not appear that OWL teams were refunded any amount of already paid entry fees, though franchise owners did receive a buyout at the end of the season.

Event hosting has been a hot topic in recent years as there have been a couple of instances in which teams have not been able to host a Major, with Carolina and the upcoming Major Four being the most recent example. Carolina cited “a range of factors” as to why it was unable to host.

With the removal of entry fees altogether, the new agreements could theoretically open the door for new teams to join the CDL.