Drake's 100 Thieves Joins 'Call of Duty' Esports League
The Call of Duty esports league has officially gotten deeper, as Drake co-owned organization 100 Thieves has started its own team, the Los Angeles Thieves. The LA Thieves accounts for the 13th Call of Duty franchise and the second in Los Angeles, following the LA Guerrillas.
This year marked the inaugural season for the Call of Duty League, which concluded in August with the Dallas Empire winning the championship. 100 Thieves founder Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag is a decorated Call of Duty player, so it came as somewhat of a surprise that the organization did not participate in the first year of competition. According to Haag, however, 100 Thieves chose to forego the season due to the cost of joining the league.
“We won two Call of Duty championships in 2019 so our year away reminded us how amazing Call of Duty fans are, and how much we missed them,” Haag said in a statement. “Our fans deserve the best Call of Duty team in the world — and we’re gonna do everything in our power to give it to them.”
“Call of Duty League seeks to ignite a shift in competitive entertainment on a global scale, and 100 Thieves shares that same vision,” Johanna Faries, commissioner of Call of Duty esports, added. “Our inaugural season introduced fans to amazing new teams, rivalries, and storylines — and raised the bar for what the competitive Call of Duty scene can achieve. The addition of LA Thieves to our roster of team franchises only ups the ante for what is certain to be an exciting future for all of us.”
The Los Angeles Thieves joins 100 Thieves' other esports teams in League of Legends, Fortnite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Valorant. The squad will be operating out of the 100 Thieves Cash App Compound in Los Angeles.