The 2021 Call of Duty League season has arrived! To get the action started, we’re hosting the Call of Duty League Kickoff Classic on January 23-24. The Kickoff Classic is a two-day weekend event featuring six preseason matches as voted on by fans. The event will also feature personalities from around the League talking about the upcoming season and additional must-see moments, including the official 2021 season schedule reveal and Stage 1 Group Selection Show. While these matches won’t count toward teams’ regular season standings, the Kickoff Classic will deliver fans the first taste of CDL 2021 competition before official matches begin on February 11!

GROUP SELECTION SHOW

On Kickoff Classic Sunday, just before the much-anticipated Los Angeles Thieves vs. Optic Chicago match, our brand new Group Selection Show will determine the groups and match schedule for Stage 1 of the regular season. During the Group Selection Show, teams in Group A will select the teams in Group B via a reverse snake draft process.

To start off the Stage 1 Group Selection Show, the 2020 Season Champion Dallas Empire and runner-up Atlanta FaZe will make the first and second picks respectively. The Empire will select first, picking a team to compete in Atlanta’s group. Atlanta will then pick a team for Dallas’ group. The team that Dallas placed in Atlanta’s group will then make the next pick, selecting another team for Dallas’ group, and so on. The process will continue back and forth until there are six teams in each group. The top two finishing teams from the Stage 1 Major will have the first two picks in the Stage 2 Group Selection Show.

The 2021 regular season consists of five stages, with teams playing group-play matches over the course of three weeks to determine their seeding for the Major Tournament that concludes each stage. All 12 teams will compete every week of the season; at each Major, teams will compete in a double-elimination bracket for high-stakes prizing.

CDL POINTS

The six teams in each group will play each other across three weeks of Home Series with teams acquiring CDL Points for each victory. CDL Points will determine seeding in each Major and qualification into the playoffs.

For the 2021 season, 10 CDL Points will be awarded for each Home Series match win.

The stakes increase for Major Tournaments:

• 1^st place = 75 CDL Points
• 2^nd place = 60 CDL Points
• 3^rd place = 50 CDL Points
• 4^th place = 40 CDL Points
• 5^th/6^th place = 30 CDL Points per team
• 7^th/8^th place = 20 CDL Points per team
• 9^th/10^th place = 10 CDL Points per team
• 11^th/12^th place = 0 CDL Points per team

2021 PRIZING

With all 12 teams qualifying for each Major Tournament, the prizing structure for 2021 has changed. There’s US $500,000 at stake for each Major and US $2,500,000 for the playoffs—for a total prize pool of US $5,000,000. Here’s how it breaks down:

Majors:

• 1^st place = $200,000
• 2^nd place = $120,000
• 3^rd place = $80,000
• 4^th place = $40,000
• 5^th/6^th place = $20,000 per team
• 7^th/8^th place = $10,000 per team
• 9^th/10^th/11^th/12^th = $0

Playoffs:

• League Champion = $1,200,000
• 2^nd place = $650,000
• 3^rd place = $300,000
• 4^th place = $150,000
• 5^th/6^th place = $75,000 per team
• 7^th/8^th place = $25,000 per team

The 2021 regular season officially gets underway online with Week 1 matches at the Atlanta FaZe Home Series on February 11-14. Tune in to the Kickoff Classic on January 23-24 to hear more about the upcoming season and see the reveal of the 2021 regular season schedule.