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- The U.S. Army Esports division has teamed up with the Call of Duty Endowment for the inaugural CODE Bowl.
- The CODE Bowl is a charitable event that will see eight teams, partnered with streamers, vie for a championship.
- The U.S Armed Forces has become interested in esports, as 62% of the esports viewing audience is between the ages of 18-34.
The Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) in conjunction with U.S. Army Esports has announced the first ever CODE Bowl, which will take place on Dec. 13.
The event will feature eight teams, with each team captained by a streamer playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare alongside members of the U.S. Army esports team. The CODE Bowl is supported by Scuf Gaming.
“The CODE Bowl is an exciting new way for the Call of Duty community to engage with world-class streamers and gain awareness about the value of military service,” said Dan Goldenberg, Executive Director of the Call of Duty Endowment. “We couldn’t be more excited to be partnering with U.S. Army Esports in this endeavor.”
The streamers expected to participate include Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek, Jaryd “Summit1g” Lazar, Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm, Brett “Dakotaz” Hoffman, David “StoneMountain64” Steinberg, Tom “Syndicate” Cassell, and Timothy “TimTheTatman” Betar.
The Call of Duty Endowment has funded the placement of more than 63,000 vets in employment since its inception and aims to place 100,000 veterans in jobs by 2024. The Endowment’s 2018 cost to place a veteran was $522 USD each.
The United States armed forces have taken a piqued interest in esports in part because of the age demographic of the esports audience, with 62% of esports viewers being between the ages of 18-34. This has lead to other sponsorships by other branches of the armed forces, such as the United States Air Force supplying the MVP title sponsor for the ELEAGUE Major, which took place in January of 2018.
The Call of Duty Endowment is a non-profit organization co-founded by Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.
