ESL reveals how teams will travel from PGL Astana to IEM Dallas

ESL has issued a statement regarding how teams will travel from Astana to Dallas to make it on time for their first matches, should they advance far at PGL Astana. Despite it being a tight squeeze for teams affected, ESL has said teams will be fined for not participating in the media day and may even be forced to forfeit their first match.

PGL Astana ends on May 18th, and play at IEM Dallas begins on May 19th. The designated arrival day for teams in Dallas is May 17th; teams that are eliminated from PGL Astana in the quarterfinals or earlier will be able to make it to the States by this day.

To best accommodate teams that make top 4 in Astana, ESL will give them the second to last and/or the last match slot of the first day:

If one or two teams reach the Top 4 in PGL Astana and as such arrive on the first tournament day for IEM Dallas, then these two teams will be put in the last match slot of the day (7:00PM).

If more than two teams reach the Top 4 in PGL Astana, teams will be assigned to the second to last slot (4:30PM) and last slot (7:00PM) of the day. The assignment of slots will be determined by a coin flip in order to provide identical treatment for all teams.

ESL has also added new language to their rulebook to allow teams to request to arrive later than their designated arrival date at a tournament due to participation in another event.

Participants may request an exception via email to arrive on Media Day instead of their scheduled participation in another Tier 1 LAN event conflicts with the designated Arrival Date. However, such exceptions will only be granted if the overall number of requests does not compromise the integrity of the event.

Additionally, ESL reserves the right to approve alternative arrival on the first day of the tournament, provided that travel logistics, timing assessments, and other operational considerations align. All requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Participants approved for an alternative arrival date will be responsible for covering any additional travel costs incurred due to the schedule change.

These changes may come into effect of YaLLa Compass Qatar and IEM Melbourne as there are teams participating in both events in April. Those events are two days apart with YaLLa Compass ending on April 19th and IEM Melbourne beginning on the 21st.

The full release from ESL may be found here.