Rio Major expands further with prize pool increase

ESL Pro League Season 16 is not over yet, but the tournament organizer is announcing further upgrades for their next big event. The German-based organization announced that the Rio major prize pool is being has increased to $1,250,000, making IEM Rio the second biggest Major in terms of prize pool, after PGL Stockholm. ESL also recently announced further expansions to the Major relating to the viewing experience for fans, such as more available seats in the arena and live audiences for the Challengers and Legends phases.

It is worth noting that the additional $250,000 for the Major has not been added at random by ESL. In the tweet announcing the enlarged prize pool, ESL stated that the additional funds have been reallocated from the Road to Rio prize pool, with an additional $10k being added to the $240K which was available. In the tweet ESL announced that they have allocated a prize $10,000 each for placing 17th-24th, which previously didn't earn any prize, meaning that every team who qualifies to the Major will earn a cash sum.

With this news, that will create an even greater incentive for any hopeful teams who will be looking to qualify for IEM Rio at the upcoming RMRs. The IEM Road to Rio RMR's are set to commence next week, with the European RMR taking place in Malta on October 4th, the Americas RMR kicking off on the 5th in Sweden and finally, the Asian RMR starting in Australia on the 7th. All three qualifiers will conclude on the 9th of October, with the challengers stage set to begin on October 31st.