The season starts at the end of January.
The 2023 season for collegiate Call of Duty (CoD) esports is arriving soon. With a prospective start about a month away, a slight format revision to 2023 College CoD has been made. This change was made because of scheduling conflicts and community feedback from the College CoD community.
The 2023 season will be the fifth season of College CoD, and it promises to be the biggest one yet. The continued growth of the brand and its increasing footprint in collegiate esports bodes well for a record-breaking season. The Collegiate Call of Duty League (CCL) will also be handing out a record-setting prize pool for the season.
2023 College CoD format
Last year's introduction of academy leagues will continue into this season with a new format. That new format will include teams being split into three divisions: Division 1, Division 2, and Open Division.
These divisions will have their own competition, competing with each other all with the aim of playing for the big prize on LAN at the end of the season.
The season will begin in the last week of January. It will start with two open regional qualifier events. These regional qualifiers will be split between West, Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast.
Each of the first qualifiers in each region will decide the Division 1 teams from that area. The second one will allow teams to qualify for Division 2.
Any team that doesn't make it into either Division 1 or Division 2 will be put into the Open Division. Each of the three divisions will play in a six-week league before moving to Playoffs. The Open Division will be split into groups of 10 to 12 teams based on how many teams will be in each region.
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CCL Playoffs 2023
At the end of the six-week long regular season, the Playoffs will happen. These playoffs will culminate in an eight-team LAN event where the winners will walk away with the title of CCL Champions.
Northwood University won last season's Championship with a team that contained now-Minnesota ROKKR Academy player Kevin "Fame" Bonanno, DeAndre "Bink" Garcia, Fernando "infinit" Reyes, and Chris "Radial" Abbott.
A location and date for this season's LAN finals is yet to be announced, but the Playoffs will take place plenty of time before then.
How teams qualify for Playoffs
All 12 teams from each region that qualify for Division 1 will all automatically qualify for Playoffs. The top eight of those teams will all receive a bye in the first round of the Playoffs.
The top four teams in Division 2 in each region will also qualify for the Playoffs. The bottom eight teams in each region's second division will have to qualify through the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ).
The top 16 teams from each region's Open Division will qualify for the LCQ. Each region will host its own LCQ with the top eight in each LCQ moving on to Regional Playoffs.
Each region will have a 24-team Playoff. The team that wins each Playoff will secure one of eight spots at the LAN Championship event.
The final four teams that play for the Championship will qualify in a LAN Playoff made up of the 12 teams that place second to fourth in each Regional Playoff. They play in a round-robin group followed by a single-elimination bracket with the top four making it to the eventual finals.
Stay tuned on Esports.gg for all of the latest news on College CoD and competitive Call of Duty.
