ActivisionBlizzard, the publisher and operator of the Call of Duty League, has formally abandoned its dream of replicating the US professional sports model in esports, waiving and refunding all franchise entry fees for the CoD League’s constituent teams in a bid to save the competition.
The decision to pay teams back for their investments in the league was first announced by OverActive Media (OAM), owner of CoD League team the Toronto Ultra. OAM said in a press release that it had agreed a restructured deal with ActivisionBlizzard to remain in the league, which includes ‘enhanced’ revenue streams from in-game items and the opportunity to run licensed third-party esports tournaments.
According to the Jacob Wolf Report, the 12 CoD League teams were due to pay at least $25m (€23.4m) in franchise fees to enter the competition. As such, ActivisionBlizzard will now refund and waive a total of at least $300m to the teams as part of a series of new licensing agreements.
An official statement from the Call of Duty League released later on Tuesday said: “Outstanding entry fees will be eliminated, and any fees previously collected from teams will be returned in full. While we paused collection of these payments years ago, we are permanently removing this obligation while also injecting capital back into the League.”
OverActive Media confirmed that it would have $25.5m of outstanding fees wiped out, in addition to receiving a $2.8m “restructuring payment” from the publisher that would enable it to remain as a CoD League member.
ANALYSIS: Google hoping exclusive esports splash will take YouTube Gaming to next level
Adam Adamou, chief executive at OAM, said the arrangement put his organisation “in an enviable position during a period of heavy industry consolidation.”
ActivisionBlizzard’s decision is indicative of where esports stands in 2024 –…
