According to The Jacob Wolf Report, Activision Blizzard still owes nearly $400 million in franchise payments to teams participating in the Overwatch League (OWL) and Call of Duty League (CDL).
According to Jacob Wolf, OWL teams owe about $6-7.5 million ($120-150 million total), while CDL teams owe an average of $22.5 million. In addition, discussions are underway to delay these payments, possibly as early as 2024.
Corruption: @ATVI_AB Still between $390 million and $420 million in team franchise payments @overwatchleague And @CODLigueSources say.
These payments have been deferred from 2020 and will be extended through 2024. https://t.co/vLMBvVGfgn
— Jacob Wolf (@JacobWolf) May 27, 2022
In September 2020, The Washington Post reported that annual fees for both leagues had been delayed by Activision Blizzard for fall 2022 as part of COVID mitigations for teams.
Activision Blizzard also stabilized and bought out debt from its Overwatch teams in 2020, after 12 founders initially sold the OWL franchise for $12 million in 2017 and eight expansion slots for $27-35 million in 2018. It has contributed nearly $200 million over the past five years.
As for CDL, franchise teams only earned $2.5 million in league bonuses in 2019 before making their first COVID outings.
As Wolf suggested, Activision Blizzard is unlikely to make a decision on whether to pay for the franchise until Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition is complete.
Subject to customary closing conditions and the completion of regulatory review, the proposed transaction is expected to close during Microsoft’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2023.
Source : dbl tap
