CDL teams reportedly bargaining for more money from in-game skins
We've all seen those Call of Duty League skins skirting around in Modern Warfare 3 and other recent titles gone by; the likelihood is that they were bunny-hopping around corners with assault rifles or slide-cancelling around corners with SMGs in hand.
They are popular. Very popular. And it seems that each team in the Call of Duty League wants a bigger slice of the pie than they are currently being served.
According to Bloomberg, the CDL teams are bargaining with Microsoft over an increase in revenue split for the in-game purchases.
CDL teams reportedly open discussions over better revenue splits
Click to enlargeHot off the back of the recent lawsuit against Activision and the Call of Duty League from CoD esports Seth "Scump" Abner and Hector "H3cz" Rodriguez, CDL teams have opened up discussions with Microsoft over better revenue shares for CDL bundles.
According to Bloomberg journalist Cecilia D'Anastasio, CDL teams have asked for a bigger share in revenue from their virtual merchandise, which contains, but is not limited to, the $12 CDL Team Skin Packs in Modern Warfare 3 and other titles.
"The owners want a bigger cut of their teams’ virtual merchandise sales and fewer restrictions on sponsorships," reads D'Anatsasio's report.
As far as revenue shares go, popular community figure Arran "TacticalRab" Francis has said that he's under the impression that the team pack revenue is distributed evenly across all teams, meaning even if OpTic sold 99 bundles, and Atlanta FaZe sold one, the profits would be shared 50/50.
In terms of sponsorships, H3cz and Scump have previously commented that there are strict rules on which sponsors the teams are allowed to have while under Activision's franchised league, which also put a stop to dual jerseys, such as OpTic's Championship Whites.
Dexerto journalist Jacob Hale also commented to say that the revenue split from the newly-penned YouTube deal is also being negotiated.
Does the CDL's new negotiations mean the League is here to stay?
As pointed out by Call of Duty esports page Breaking Point, these negotiations could be breaking the status quo, as many fans of CoD esports are expecting the CDL to follow the way of the Overwatch League after this season in terms of dissolution.
However, bargaining with Microsoft does indicate that the franchised system has more legs to it than what meets the eye, and any deal struck between the orgs and Microsoft this year may indicate many more years of the CDL.
There's a lot of too-ing and fro-ing until such negotiations are finalised though, and the writing may already be on the wall for the CDL, which might come into play when it comes to how this all plays out.
