The New York Subliners are taking a Call of Duty League trophy home to New York City following their stunning victory over the Seattle Surge in the grand finals of CDL 2023 Major One last night. Unfortunately for NYSL and NYC, though, it appears the franchise may not get to host a Major later on in the season.
The CDL 2023 Major Four, originally scheduled for mid-April of 2023 and set to be hosted by NYSL, will reportedly no longer be held in New York City, according to a report from esports.gg.
The original plan for Major Four was to return to Kings Theatre, the venue for the fourth Major of the year during the previous season. At that Major, NYSL went on an upper bracket run through Minnesota, Florida, and the L.A. Thieves that delighted the home crowd before a grand finals defeat at the hands of the Thieves.
The primary reason for the Major moving to a new city is reportedly the size of Kings Theatre, which may be too small to host a CDL Challengers Open. Last year, the Helix Esports facility in Foxborough, Massachusetts was used as the venue for the Challengers event, but there are reportedly “disagreements between” NYXL and Oxygen Esports, the managing organizations of NYSL and the Boston Breach.
Matt Lucero, creative director at NYXL, said in a statement to esports.gg that New York is willing and waiting for the opportunity to host events in the future. The NYSL players and staff reportedly didn’t find out that Major Four was moving out of New York until they were in Raleigh for this past weekend’s Major One.
The sources that reportedly spoke to esports.gg “strongly” believe that the Florida Mutineers are the front runners to host Major Four, but no decision has been made yet. Currently, Major Two will be held in Boston, Major Three in Texas, and Major Five in Toronto, and a location has not been officially determined for the 2023 CDL Championship as of yet.
