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More fans will be able to watch Major action live on-site following a significant expansion of ticket sales for Rio.

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Correction:IEM Rio will be the second Major to feature live audience for all play days, as a small number of tickets were sold for the StarLadder Major New Challengers Stage before the stands filled up for the New Legends Stage.

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ESL has announced an expansion of their ticket sales for IEM Rio for all three stages of the Major, which will go live on September 14-15.

The expansion comes in response to the Brazilian community's calls for a change of venue of the IEM Rio Major to a larger location. Tickets for the Major were limited significantly and sold out within an hour from release after many fans who had bought a seat at the canceled ESL One Rio 2020 opted against refunding their purchases and kept their spot for when the event would eventually take place.

A concept of a new center stage that allows ESL to expand seating in the Jeunesse Arena (Picture courtesy of ESL)

After it was previously revealed that only the Champions stage would feature a live audience in the Jeunesse Arena, tickets will go on sale for the Challengers and Legends stages as well. The first two stages of the Major will be held at the Riocentro convention center in Rio de Janeiro, on October 31-November 8.

ESL hasn't publicly stated the number of tickets on sale for the first two stages, but Alexandre "⁠gAuLeS⁠" Chiqueta revealed in a live stream there would be 5,000 seats available in the Riocentro hall where the matches will be held.

This will make IEM Rio the second CS:GO Major played out in front of a live crowd across all three stages and all play days ever since the three-stage format was first introduced with the combined 16-team LAN qualifier ahead of DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca in 2015. Previously, tickets were also sold for all stages of the StarLadder Major, however only a handful of people turned up for the first stage.

More tickets will also be available for the IEM Rio Champions Stage (November 10-13) after ESL adjusted its setup to a center stage for the first time in ESL's CS:GO tournaments, opening up more space inside the Jeunesse Arena.

gAuLeS will host the IEM Fan Fest right outside of the arena during the playoffs

Additionally, ESL will organize a fan festival next to the Jeunesse Arena during the Champions Stage. Highly popular Brazillian streamer and personality gAuLeS will host fans there and provide live commentary of the playoffs matches.

Tickets for the first two stages of the event and the additional arena seats will go live on September 14 at 20:00 , ranging from 69-449 BRL (around $13-$90). The IEM Fan Fest tickets will follow on September 15 at 20:00 , with options ranging from 29-99 BRL (around $6-$19).

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Check out HLTV.org/Major

Everything you might need to know can be found on our dedicated Major page, including an explanation of the qualifiers, the format, dates, news, matches, and more.

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The IEM Rio Major will take place from October 31 to November 13. The qualifying Regional Major Ranking tournaments ahead of the competition are just weeks away, taking place from October 4-9, with 32 European teams, 16 teams from the Americas, and 4 teams from Asia and Oceania set to compete for 8 spots in the Legends stage and 16 spots in the Challengers stage of the Major.

Alexandre 'gAuLeS' Chiqueta Age: 39 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.54 Maps played: 3 KPR: 0.41 DPR: 0.84 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone