DALLAS -- The first LAN competition of the new Call of Duty World League season was delayed almost an hour Sunday after authorities were alerted of a potential bomb threat at 4 p.m. ET at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, according to Dallas police.
This was the second bomb threat called in over the course of the tournament. Spectators, players and staff were evacuated from the Kay Convention Center around 5 p.m. ET Friday, after authorities were alerted to a security threat. That forced tournament organizers to reschedule the majority of the opening day of competition. According to a report by NBC Dallas later in the evening, an unknown suspect told event organizers that explosives had been planted on-site, which caused the evacuation of 208 Call of Duty teams along with fans and others from the convention center.
The tournament resumed Saturday morning, with the competition extending to 4:30 in the morning as organizers attempted to fit in all of the action. The 208 teams competing at CWL Dallas marked the most teams to participate in a Call of Duty esports event since the inception of the Call of Duty World League.
"This is the first open bracket I've been a part of," FaZe Clan player Tommy "ZooMaa" Paparratto said. "We play[ed] about 14 hours of CoD yesterday, so to play that many hours at such a high level, it's so draining, really."
Sign-ups for the Dallas Marathon also took place Friday at Kay, and the race was run Sunday. The hotel connected to the convention center, the Omni Hotel, was not evacuated during either bomb threat.
CWL Dallas, hosted by streaming and tournament partner MLG, has a prize pool of $200,000. The event continued Sunday, with the finals planned for later in the day.