ESL Rio Major completely sells out in an hour

All tickets for the ESL Rio CS:GO Major set for October 2022 are completely sold out after less than an hour, according to ESL.

The Rio Major was only announced on May 24, just days after the completion of the PGL Antwerp Major. Tickets officially went on sale at 12pm CT, but within just an hour, multiple users on Twitter were stuck in an overloaded queue trying to get tickets. All those tickets were gone within the hour, according to ESL. The link to purchasing tickets now links to a dead page.

For fans who were unable to purchase tickets, they can sign up for updates on the Major via the ESL website. Fans who purchased tickets for the ESL Rio Major when it was originally set for 2020 can still apply that ticket to one for the 2022 event, provided they haven’t already refunded their 2020 ticket.

There’s a possibility for more tickets to become available in the future if ESL listens to the demands for the tournament to be moved to a soccer stadium. Many Brazilian fans have pointed out that the Jeunesse Arena only has a maximum capacity of 18,000 people, which they say is too small a number to represent the passionate Brazilian fan base. By comparison, the Antwerps Sportpaleis, the site of the past PGL Antwerp Major playoffs, has a capacity of over 23,000.

Fans are demanding that the Champions Stage for the ESL Rio Major be moved to a soccer stadium, as are many of the game’s great players such as s1mple and FalleN. Some players have called for the event to be moved to the massive Maracanã Stadium in Rio, with a capacity of over 78,000. Other venues in Brazil are actively trying to get ESL’s attention as well, like the Allianz Parque in São Paulo and the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba.