CDL Major 4 will be held without fans in California, Carolina Royal Ravens withdraw as host

In almost an exact repeat of the 2023 Call of Duty League season, this year’s Major IV event will not be played in front of a live audience.

The Carolina Royal Ravens, who were chosen as hosts for this year’s Major IV LAN event, announced today that it will not be hosting Major IV this season “due to a range of factors,” and the Modern Warfare 3 competition will instead be played on LAN with no fans in attendance.

“We know how many of you were looking forward to our event, and we hope to put on a show in our hometown that fans can be proud of in the future,” Carolina said in a statement.

Last year’s Major IV was originally set to be hosted in New York by the Subliners organization, but it, too, also had to back out of hosting and was instead hosted on LAN with no fans in Columbus, Ohio. This year’s situation is similar, but with a different locale.

“Due to Major IV no longer happening in Charlotte, the tournament will still take place on LAN with no live audience in Burbank, California,” the CDL said in its own statement. “To ensure teams have the standard one week of break post Majors, Major IV qualifier week one will now start on May 31 with the Challengers season also shifting one week.”

This is Carolina’s first year in the league after the Royal Ravens relocated from London, its home city for the first four seasons of the CDL. The team currently sits in eighth place in the season standings, holding a five-CDL Point lead over Miami Heretics and Seattle Surge for the final playoff spot.

Major IV was originally set to begin on May 24, but will now kick off a week later with online qualifiers.