Even viewership is bigger in Texas
The rest of the world can rejoice, as they no longer have to mald about working with American time zones. But even as the matches and the legend of GStew eventually fade, there will be no denying that the impact of a "home" LAN for North American Counter Strike was emphatically felt in the energy of the area, the volume of the fans, and the intrigue that was generated worldwide, despite any time differences.
The objective data backs up the subjective hype, as Michal "Carmac" Blicharz noted that IEM Dallas was topped only by IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, and IEM Rio in terms of viewership.
In terms of comparisons that this event's viewership rivaled, there's no description that does it justice other than acknowledging that IEM Dallas was simply in elite company.
IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, and IEM Rio are all former venues of Majors (though not all as IEM events), and NA fans are no doubt hopeful that their showing this past week demonstrates that the United States is long overdue for another chance to welcome the world's best if the rumors are true.
The arena was completely sold out for IEM Dallas and the ESL Impact League Season 5 Finals were also hosted that weekend within the DreamHack Dallas convention space.
All in all, about 55,000 people came through for the weekend, which stacks up pretty well against average NBA attendance for 2023-2024 (18,324) and NHL attendance for 2023-2024 (17,101) if you need a point of reference.
It's safe to ponder if the stadium at the KBH Convention Center had a capacity of 9,816 seats (presumably not all used with the stage), then what could be big enough to contain a Major in Texas?
