Recently, we covered the report that the 12th Call of Duty League slot (once owned by NRG Esports and then Team Envy thanks to the OpTic Gaming merger) would be seeing a team founded in Boston, USA. The team was slated to be founded and run by Kraft Sports and Entertainment (the parent company of the Boston Uprising Overwatch League team) and the New England-based esports organisation, Oxygen Esports. Now, those reports have been confirmed, thanks to an official announcement press release.
The CDL team does not currently have a name, we only know that it will be run by Oxygen Esports, but we do know that it will be competing in the 2022 season, meaning we can expect to hear more from the organisation over the coming weeks ahead of the CDL's return in mid-January.
Otherwise, it was also noted that Oxygen Esports and Boston Uprising LLC (the OWL team), would be joining together, so that the pair now have competitive rosters in more than a dozen different scenes.
"The Kraft family could not be more excited to broaden their exposure to esports." said Kraft family spokesperson Stacey James. "By combining the Boston Uprising with Oxygen Esports, and the announcement of a Boston Call of Duty League franchise, New England will be a powerful player in competitive gaming. With Oxygen functioning as the operator and their multitude of new titles and leagues, they are shaping the future of esports for all New England gaming fans."
As part of this deal, Oxygen Esports is also set to make its headquarters at Patriot Place in Foxborough, Massachusetts (a building that is adjacent to the New England Patriots' home ground, Gillette Stadium), where its teams will now train at the same facility that the Boston Uprising OWL team currently trains at.