With Call of Duty League’s viewership growing, more teams are becoming interested in the league and its monetization opportunities. It’s not all that simple, though, as the CDL must do some housekeeping first to ensure healthy expansion.
At CDL Champs 2026 in Las Vegas, Dot Esports spoke with Daniel Tsay, the general manager of Call of Duty esports, about the current franchises and prospects for expansion. Tsay said that while the CDL is currently a 12-team closed franchise, his dream is to get it to 16 teams. But he doesn’t want to rush it.
“When I think about the 12 that we have, I think it’s really important that we make sure we have healthy 12 team franchises. We have some teams that may want to exit. Some teams that would want to enter,” Tsay explained.
“I’d rather us focus on the core before we ever think about expanding,” Tsay added, with the league having the capability to expand at any time, but there’s some shifting that needs to be done with the core teams first.
On the other hand, some teams don’t find CDL lucrative. Spacestation Gaming was rumored to enter CDL, but ultimately had to pass due to revenue potential and a lack of available talent. Granted, the circumstances depend on the organization. In some cases, it may not make sense for it to enter CDL, whether due to the following’s size, location, or whatever else.
However, Tsay said that teams may not see the full picture of the league’s finances: “Obviously, we don’t know what has been told to them, but what I can say is they probably don’t see all of the team finances the way the league does.”
Tsay emphasized that teams in the league are eager for opportunities they can monetize in their own ways, and there are frequent talks with team owners about how the league can help make that happen. This ranges from team-hosted Majors and sponsorships to in-game bundles. A team with a big fanbase can make millions through in-game bundles alone.
“It’s definitely lucrative, and it’s built that way where if you have a lot of fandom, you will be lucrative, which is exactly what our owners asked for,” Tsayd said.
It doesn’t seem CDL will expand beyond 12 teams in 2027, but as always, we might see changes in rosters and organizations, especially with Modern Warfare 4 shaking up the competitive scene.
