CS:GO - ESL One Rio Major moved to November, Prize pool increased to highest in CS history

Valve and ESL have officially postponed the first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major of 2020. ESL confirmed the news on twitter and also announced the new dates for the Major tournament. Initially, the Major was scheduled to take place between 11th and 24th May. Instead, the Major has been moved to November with the Champions Stage taking place between 19th and 22nd November at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio De Janeiro.

The May 2020 @CSGO Major in Rio has been rescheduled to November 19-22 due to the COVID-19 situation. The event will remain at Jeunesse Arena and the prize money will be added to the November Major, upping it to $2,000,000https://t.co/WXxJGdSkbK

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 23, 2020

They have also announced that this effectively cancels the second CS:GO Major of the season and the Prize Pool for the Rio Major will be doubled. As a result, the $2 Million Prize Pool will become the highest in Counter-Strike history. The winners of the Major will net a grand total of $1 Million.

CSGO is not the only Esport suffering from the Coronavirus outbreak as two of DotA's Majors have also suffered from the outbreak. The ESL One Los Angeles Major, originally scheduled between 15th and 22nd March, has been indefinitely postponed while Valve has outright canceled the Epicenter Major that would have taken place in early May.

This disruption of the regular season brings the question of team invites to the table. In a Reddit post made by ESL Vice-President of Pro-gaming Michal "Carmac" Blicharz, it was stated that the new invitations and qualifications to the event will be considered afresh. Only time will tell what this means for teams already qualified or invited to the event.