LOS ANGELES -- The Metro Expo line ride to Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium on Saturday morning was relatively empty. A few morning shoppers with tote bags of groceries, a mother and child with a stroller, a homeless man curled up in one of the rear seats of the train car. Foot traffic was busier at the Jefferson/USC stop, but not by much. On the University of Southern California campus near the Shrine Auditorium, a student slung a laundry bag over her shoulder, her face half-covered by a cloth mask. Flanked by banners for both OpTic Gaming Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Guerrillas, several hand sanitizer stands were lined up in the entryway.
After Los Angeles County declared a state of emergency over fears of COVID-19 (commonly called "coronavirus") spreading, there were some doubts as to whether this weekend's Call of Duty League Los Angeles homestand would still take place. With the virus impacting sporting events worldwide, the possibility of holding the homestand weekend without an audience -- like the first round robin of League of Legends Champions Korea or last weekend's IEM Katowice tournament -- was also a possibility. Ultimately, the homestand went on as planned, with teams, staff and media adjusting, taking extra precautions during travel and at the event itself. Microphones were sanitized with wipes between interviews, hand sanitizer was passed around frequently and players joked with each other and media when they defaulted to greeting each other with fist or elbow bumps rather than shaking hands.
Read about how the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has affected esports and gaming events around the world.
Certain Call of Duty teams employed more creative travel methods than others to keep their players healthy.
"Our organization actually got us a private jet to fly so we didn't have to go commercial," Dallas Empire's James "Clayster" Eubanks said. "That was a bucket list thing of mine. I'd actually never flown on a private jet. Honestly, it was really nice. It was a really cool experience, just all seven of us on a plane, our media guy and our manager. It was a really cool experience and, honestly, one that I won't forget."
The Dallas Empire will be the host of the next Call of Duty homestand in Irving, Texas, on March 28-29 if all goes according to plan.
Although the Shrine Auditorium is a smaller venue than others in the league, it was still somewhat surprising to see how many people showed up. The audience was generally full despite any lingering concerns over the virus.
As co-hosts of this weekend's event, OpTic and the Guerrillas both faced a lot of pressure, beginning with the nature of the audience for their first homestand match, which was against each other in a "Battle for L.A." OpTic L.A. inherited one of the most popular names in Call of Duty prior to franchising, but had been met with jeers of "You're not OpTic!" at events in 2020 until Saturday, when they beat the Guerrillas.
Read more: Five questions ahead of L.A. homestand | Three teams tied in coaches poll heading into L.A.
"I've always kind of been the villain or one of the villains in the scene because I was playing against the old OpTic Gaming as one of the teams to beat them a lot, so I'm kind of used to it," said former 100 Thieves and current OpTic player Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat. "But today I was sitting up onstage, and after we won a map, I was hearing the 'Let's go OpTic' chants and it almost, because I'm so used to it, I almost thought I was playing against the old OpTic. I had to collect myself and be like, 'Yo, the fans are actually cheering for me right now.' Because I've always been on the other side of it."
Meanwhile, Los Angeles' newer brand in the Guerrillas made several roster changes prior to this event, bringing three Call of Duty League rookies to their lineup in Rasim "Blazt" Ogresevic, Kris "Spart" Cervantez and Reece "Vivid" Drost for this weekend's series.
"I was driving myself to Dallas -- I live in Houston -- and I was driving myself to Dallas and I got a phone call from Alex [Rubens], the GM, and he said, basically, 'Do you want to compete for us?' And I was like, 'Yes, obviously,'" Spart said. "And then he asked, 'Can you fly out tonight?' And I just turned around, 2½ hours into the drive, and went straight home, packed my stuff and got straight on a plane."
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In the biggest upset of the #CDL2020 weekend so far, @OpticGaming defeated the @ROKKR in a convincing 3-0 set.@LeagueOfEmily caught up with @JKap415 after the match to get his reaction. pic.twitter.com/xLMPriJY1f
- ESPN Esports (@ESPN_Esports) March 8, 2020
Of the two Los Angeles teams, it was OpTic who impressed the most with a shocking 3-0 victory over the Minnesota RØKKR, a dark horse pick among many people to possibly steal the tournament away from favorite Atlanta FaZe. Although it was commonly accepted, even among OpTic's harshest critics, that a roster with this amount of talent shouldn't be winless, few people expected them to defeat the RØKKR so thoroughly and advance to the semifinals on Sunday along with the FaZe.
That Guerrillas-OpTic series seemingly decided the fate of both Los Angeles teams on the day. After narrowly avoiding a loss, OpTic came out against the RØKKR with a statement win. Meanwhile the Guerrillas, following that reverse sweep against OpTic, fell flat against the Seattle Surge in the Group B knockout series and won't be playing Sunday.