Some things that the CPL World Tour has in place already mirror the Tour de France. The CPL does have a point system, and the overall winner of the ‘Tour’ does receive a check and trophy for his hard work. However, a couple of additional awards and small prizes could be awarded to both the teams and the individuals for accomplishing certain things during the World Tour.

What the CPL WT on the 1v1 side lacks is any sort of team competition. Now I realize this is a 1v1 competition and I know Carmac is going to use this against me, but part of the excitement of watching la Tour de France is rooting for your favorite team and your favorite rider. I cheer not only for Lance Armstrong, but also for Team Discovery, his team. The implementation is tricky, BUT there is a way.

The CPL can have players indicate their team membership when they signup, and with three or more players a team becomes eligible to be ranked. By averaging the Tour points earned by players on the team you can obtain a team standing. Ideally teams would be limited to four players, but with late implementation this will not work. The top placing team would receive a prize at the end of the tour, adding an element of team play but also a reason to care if vo0 is on Fnatic or toxic is on SK.

Think of the other possibilities. La maillot jaune is earned by the overall tour leader, but there are several other exciting possibilities the CPL could introduce. The green jersey, which in cycling is for the best sprinter, could become the jersey for the player with the highest accuracy, the polka dot jersey which is for 'the king of the mountain' could be awarded to the player that crawled through the loser’s bracket the longest. In addition, you could have the white jersey, which in bicycling is given to the best rider under 25, awarded to the best player under 18.

The possibilities are endless. As we saw with the 2005 World Tour, the WT quickly settles out into the same matchups and distinct levels of skill quickly appear. These other awards give players something to shoot for and will make following the World Tour that much more interesting.

Another key point is that it makes these players visible. In a time where gaming is garnering more and more media attention, it would be nice to see these players stand out. As a camera pans across the tournament area a spectator can see the leader and see the best young player. Granted it’s not as significant as
it is in bicycling but spectators not familiar with faces can quickly identify a player and their status based on their shirts.

I would also suggest making this Tour an actual tour with the final winner being the player with the most points. While this will not give the CPL their MTV moment, it makes sense competition wise. If cooller wins every stop but toxic wins the finals, is toxic really the tour champion? I would say he is not. In fatal1ty's interview on 60 minutes he said it was about peaking at the right time, I say it should be about consistent performance.

These suggestions are just here to show people what possibilities the World Tour has. While 2005 was the testing ground for such an idea, 2006 will explore the possibilities of this format.