Less than 24 hours before the start of the IEM Rio Major, ESL published the first photos of the stage where the Challengers and Legends stages will be held. Rioceontro Hall 6, which can accommodate about 4,000 visitors, was chosen as the arena for them.
The photo shows places for four teams: two of them will be used for an active match, and the remaining two will simultaneously prepare for the next one. This decision was made to minimize pauses between teams' performances. At the same time, since both at the Challengers stage and at the Legends stage, two matches are often played simultaneously, spectators will not be able to directly observe all the meetings – some of them will be held behind the scenes. Those interested will be able to follow their progress on additional screens located on the sides.
Thus, ESL is implementing its previously announced decision to hold more matches in front of spectators. If at previous similar events only matches of the four final days were available to the audience, now viewers can watch their favorite teams from the very beginning of the tournament.
The Champions Stage matches (November 10 to 13) will take place at the Jeunesse Arena. At the same time, in order to increase the number of seats, ESL, for the first time in the history of CS:GO, will organize matches on stages with screens located in the center and accessible from all sides.
