The 2023 Call of Duty League season is about to formally kick off on Friday, Dec. 2 with the Major One qualifiers, beginning with a 2pm CT on-line match between Boston Breach and Atlanta FaZe. But there may be reportedly no streaming platform deal in place, elevating questions on the place the matches might be broadcast with lower than 24 hours earlier than they begin.
The earlier streaming deal between the CDL and Google (by way of YouTube) expired on the finish of the 2022 season and there may be no present media cope with any platform in place, in keeping with Kevin Hitt of the Sports Business Journal. Google signed a three-year, $160 million deal to be the unique broadcast companion for each the CDL and the Overwatch League at first of 2020, streaming the competitors for each leagues over the following three seasons.
It’s value noting that the partnership between the CDL and YouTube was additionally introduced on the day of Launch Weekend for the league’s inaugural season in 2020, which suggests a same-day announcement for streaming rights for 2023 and past tomorrow wouldn’t be thought of surprising.
There have been no bulletins relating to streaming platforms for the CDL within the months which have adopted the conclusion of the 2022 CDL Championship in August. All the promotional supplies for upcoming matches don’t make any point out of the place followers can watch the matches, though the principle CDL Twitter web page nonetheless has the CDL YouTube channel listed as its homepage.
There has been “general concern over less-than-stellar viewership statistics” because the transfer to YouTube and “both YouTube and Twitch are unwilling to put up the money they have in previous years,” in keeping with sources that spoke to Hitt and SBJ. Prior to the YouTube deal, Twitch was the unique streaming companion of OWL, which got here at a reported value of $90 million.
