Two of the Call of Duty League’s original sponsors, Astro Gaming and the US Army, are no longer listed on the league’s website.
Two major Call of Duty League sponsors seems to have cut ties with the league just days before Champs Weekend.
Both Astro Gaming and the US Army no longer feature on the league's website, most notably Astro no longer being the sponsor of the 2021 CDL MVP. As of now, only four sponsors remain listed: Mountain Dew Game Fuel, SCUF Gaming, USAA Insurance, and Zenni Gaming.
Both sponsors have been with the Call of Duty League since its inception in 2020. Astro specifically was originally lined up to be a top sponsor for the league through the 2022 season. Neither Astro nor the US Army has made a statement regarding the removal of their logos from the site.
The news comes as the latest in a slew of sponsors separating themselves from parent company Activision Blizzard in the wake of the bombshell lawsuit filed against it by the State of California. The suit alleges that, among other things, the company's "frat boy" culture led to harassment and discrimination of female and minority employees.
The Overwatch League, also run by Activision Blizzard, has experienced the loss of several sponsors of its own, with Kellogg's, Pringles, Cheez-Its, State Farm, and T-Mobile pulling support since the lawsuit became public. Only Coca-Cola, Xfinity, and Teamspeak remain sponsors for OWL as of this writing. Coca-Cola, however, has announced they are re-evaluating the partnership.
Esports.GG reached out to Activision Blizzard and Astro Gaming for comment and will update this story as they are received.
Despite the loss of sponsors the Call of Duty League Championships will run August 19-22. Eight of the twelve CDL teams have qualified for a chance to be the second ever champion, following the Dallas Empire's victory at the inaugural Champs event last year. The Atlanta FaZe and Toronto Ultra captured the top two seeds in the bracket. Seeds 3 through 8 awarded to the Dallas Empire, OpTic Chicago, New York Subliners, Minnesota Rokkr, LA Thieves, and Florida Mutineers respectively.
The third-seeded Empire faces off against the sixth-seeded Rokkr to kick off Champs 2021 Thursday, August 19 at 12PM Pacific / 3PM Eastern. You can watch every match on the official Call of Duty League YouTube channel.