Activision reveals that the Call of Duty League won’t expand in 2021

We’ve received some more news on the 2021 Call of Duty League season, and it won’t make many fans happy. Yesterday though, Activision had one of its best announcements in months, revealing that the CDL would return to 4v4 play. However, this was immediately back-ended by the revelation that there would likely be no expansion teams in 2021. This means that the league will remain at 12 rosters and many current CDL players will be without a job very soon.

Call of Duty League staying at 12 teams

Many believed that the CDL would in fact expand once the 4v4 announcement went live. It was the most logical conclusion, as moving to 4v4 means over a dozen players could be without a job very shortly after being in the league just a couple of weeks ago.

However, Activision has decided that it will not expand until 2022. The company’s reasoning behind this is the CDL is still in its early stages, and it needs time to show off various aspects of the league. This is all coming from a report from ESPN Esports, in which the Call of Duty League Commissioner disclosed some information. Here’s a quick snippet from that report.

However, our heads are currently down and focused on our 12 teams that have been with us since the beginning. We were oversubscribed with demand when we settled on our 12, and will do right by that demand at the appropriate time.

It appears that there was, and still is, significant interest from across the industry about joining the CDL. Various organizations, like Rise Nation, have been rumored to be in talks with Activision about an expansion slot. Although, the CDL has made it clear that it won’t accept any new slots until 2022. So this means that at least a dozen current league players will be forced to find new opportunities when Free Agency rolls around.