ESL and Valve began selling tickets for the IEM Rio CS:GO Major in a partnership with Eventbrite, but moments after the sales started, the website’s servers crashed while many fans attempted to secure their tickets.
The biggest issue, in the eyes of Brazilian fans and players alike, is the size of Jeunesse Arena, the venue chosen for the playoffs. The arena has a maximum capability of 18,000 people, which is allegedly too small for the outspoken and proud Brazilian CS:GO community.
The problems of buying the tickets, combined with the size of Jeneusse Arena, have caused fans and even players to ask ESL to move the event to a bigger venue such as Maracanã, one of Brazil’s most iconic soccer stadiums located in Rio de Janeiro.
Moving the IEM Rio Major to a soccer stadium would allow more fans to watch the competition from inside the venue, but it would be hard to secure the dates (Nov. 10 to 13) due to soccer matches and the fact that almost every large soccer stadium in Brazil do not have roofs to protect fans, players, and equipment from inclement weather.
The South American nation supports talented teams such as FURIA, Imperial, and MIBR, and the fanbase has only grown since streamer Gaules began broadcasting events years ago. More than 700,000 people tuned in to his broadcast to follow Cloud9 vs. Imperial at the PGL Antwerp Major weeks ago, setting a record for Portuguese-speaking streams.
So far, neither ESL nor Valve has addressed the community’s requests or problems with the event’s ticket sale.
