ESL 2020 Rio tournament organizers have announced that the tournament will be moved to the fall. It was originally scheduled for May 2020, and was to be preceded by the Maynores in late April/early May. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, ESL has decided to postpone. The major will be held in Rio de Janeiro on November 19-22 at the Jeunesse Arena. Those who have already bought tickets for the spring event will be able to turn in their tickets and get a refund or use the same tickets for the fall tournament.
It is still unclear what format ESL 2020 Rio will be held in and how the meaning of the participants will change. ESL and Valve are expected to reveal soon which events will replace the May Major, and how the Maynores will be handled going forward. It is already known that the prize fund of the championship will increase and will amount to 2 million dollars.
Analyst and commentator Arseniy «ceh9» Trinozhenko believes that such a decision puts the teams in a difficult situation. If the current tournament rules are followed, teams will have to make no transfers for six months, as spots in the tournament are assigned to specific squads. That said, six months is a long time for cybersports – and there is a cost to maintaining a team. Therefore, Trinozhenko suggests that Valve will have to update the tournament rules, adapting them to the current situation.