While the Minnesota RØKKR is looking to change the roster it will be represented by in the 2024 Call of Duty League season, the franchise reportedly won’t be changing its name as part of a significant pending merger.
The Minnesota RØKKR will not be rebranding this year despite a supposed merger with the G2 Esports organization, according to Dexerto reporter Jacob Hale. The report references the merger with G2 like it’s seemingly a done deal, but the only public information mentioning it is a rumor from the @CdlScrimIntel Twitter account back in late June. The Minnesota RØKKR has not officially announced a merger yet, though a report from April suggested the franchise was exploring a merger or sale of its CDL spot and had “productive conversations with a number of different esports organizations.”
The Minnesota RØKKR is owned and operated by Version1, an esports/gaming company owned by the Wilf family (owners of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings). The company’s COO Brett Diamond provided a statement to Dexerto that “nothing is changing for the upcoming [CDL] season,” but this could change before the 2025 season that follows.
Related: CDL rostermania: All confirmed CoD roster changes after 2023 Call of Duty League season
A large handful of CDL teams have already experienced rebranding during the league’s relatively short lifetime. Back in June, it was reported that Activision Blizzard was considering mandating organizations that fielded teams in both the CDL and OWL to merge their brands. But given that Version1 doesn’t compete in the OWL, this mandate wouldn’t apply to it even in the case it was made official.
In the days leading up to the latest report, the RØKKR parted ways with all of the members of its 2023 roster, opting not to re-sign any of the players who earned a top-eight finish at Champs. G2, who competes across numerous titles and is best known for its League of Legends and CS:GO divisions, briefly competed in Call of Duty for just over a year right before the inception of the CDL, fielding future league talent such as Blazt and Methodz.
