Less than 24 hours before the IEM Rio Major ESL has released the first photos of the stage that will host the Challengers and Legends stages. Rioceontro Hall 6, with a capacity of about 4,000 visitors, was chosen as the arena for them.
The photo shows the seats for the four teams: two of them will be used for the active match, while the other two will be simultaneously prepared for the next one. This decision was made to minimize the pauses between the teams' performances. However, since both the Challengers and Legends stages often have two matches being played at a time, spectators will not be able to directly watch all of the encounters – some of them will be held backstage. Those who wish will be able to follow their progress on additional screens, which are located on the sides.
Thus, ESL realizes the previously announced decision to hold more matches in the presence of spectators. If at previous similar events only the matches of the four final days were available for the audience, now the audience will watch their favorite teams from the very beginning of the tournament.
The matches of the Champions Stage (November 10-13) will be held at the Jeunesse Arena. In order to increase the number of seats, ESL is organizing for the first time in the history of CS:GO matches on stages with screens located in the center and available for observation from all sides.