Due to ongoing contract negotiations, Call of Duty casting duo Merk and Maven will miss the CDL Kickoff Classic for the second year in a row.

The CDL Kickoff Classic is set to kick off the preseason on January 21st. On LAN, all 12 teams will compete in a single-elimination bracket.

However, due to contract issues, two of the league’s most popular announcers, Joe ‘Merk’ DeLuca and Clint ‘Maven’ Evans, will not be part of the broadcast team for the tournament.

Merk broke the sad news to CDL fans everywhere in a Twitch stream on January 17 that the duo will not be at the preseason event unless something miraculous happens.

Merk and Maven will not be casting the CDL Kickoff Classic for the second year in a row. The casting duo has been trying to renew their contract with the CDL for the Vanguard season, but it appears that talks have come to a halt.

Tyler ‘TeeP’ Polchow, a fellow streamer, asked Merk if he was set for the upcoming CDL season on January 6th.

This does not rule out the possibility of a deal before the regular season begins on February 4th. This makes sense given that they didn’t play in the preseason last year but were signed for the regular season.