The organizers of the ESL 2020 Rio tournament announced that the tournament will be postponed to the fall. Initially, it was planned for May 2020, and before it, minors were supposed to take place in late April-early May. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, ESL decided to postpone. The Major will take place in Rio de Janeiro on November 19-22 at the Jeunesse Arena. Those who have already purchased tickets for the spring event will be able to return the tickets and get a refund, or use the same tickets for the fall tournament.
It is still unclear in what format ESL 2020 Rio will be held, and how the meaning of the participants will change. It is expected that soon ESL and Valve will tell you what events will replace the May Major, and how the Minors will be held in the future. It is already known that the championship prize fund will increase and amount to $2 million.
Analyst and commentator Arseny «ceh9» Trinozhenko believes that such a decision puts the teams in a difficult situation. If you follow the current rules of the tournament, then teams will have to make no transfers for six months, since places in the tournament are assigned to specific squads. At the same time, six months for e-sports – a long period of time, and maintaining a team requires costs. Therefore, Trinozhenko suggests that Valve will have to update the tournament rules, adapting them to the current situation.
