ESL move Impact Finals to IEM Dallas stage... but there's a catch

Today ESL have announced that the grand finals for the ESL Impact League Season 7 Finals in Dallas, Texas will take place in the same arena that hosts IEM Dallas' playoffs. IEM Dallas and the ESL Impact League Finals for the first season of the year have run concurrently for the past three years, with the Impact Finals traditionally taking place on a side stage on the DreamHack Dallas show floor.

This decision to host the ESL Impact League Season 7 Finals in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center arena has been lauded by fans of the Impact scene as it will place CS2's premier women's tournament in front of a huge crowd, however keen eyed individuals noticed an unfortunate detail accompanying ESL's announcement.

On ESL's website, the tournament organizer have an additional change to the format and venue for the ESL Impact Season 7 Finals that will take the group stage and semifinals of the event off of the DH Dallas show floor and have it played out behind closed doors in the same ballroom where the IEM Dallas group stage is normally. This change means that fans will only be able to watch the grand finals of the ESL Impact League live, missing out on the opportunity to see the other six teams compete live on stage.

This change, has been received negatively by many in the ESL Impact community as fans will be unable to support their favorite teams in-person unless they make the finals. The Impact finals have traditionally seen strong turnout from dedicated fans, friends, and family of the players, with Marissa "madss" Dasta's family, for example, being a familiar site at the LAN events.

As such, while one part of this announcement has been highly lauded by the Impact community, the news overall is something of a mixed bag for long-time fans and players who have enjoyed watching as much of the Impact scene as possible live.