The Call of Duty League officially launched in 2020. Its inaugural regular season began on January 24, 2020, introducing a franchised, city-based competition for professional Call of Duty teams under Activision’s ownership.
The league replaced the earlier Call of Duty World League structure and was modeled partly on the Overwatch League. It initially featured 12 teams connected to cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Seattle, Toronto, and Florida. The league’s first season used live homestand events, although the COVID-19 pandemic forced most of the schedule online.
The first championship was won by Dallas Empire, who defeated Atlanta FaZe 5–1 in the Grand Finals on August 30, 2020. The league is sometimes confused with earlier Call of Duty esports competitions, but those events belong to predecessor circuits rather than the Call of Duty League itself. That distinction makes 2020 the accepted launch year.