I’m really confused as to why bringing the major to Sydney is such an awful idea. For three years in a row IEM Sydney has been not only a highlight of the year for fans attending but also for the players who attend. Year after year the crowd gets better and the talent get more involved in all the banter. Valve refuses to put majors outside of their ‘prime time’ slots but IEM Sydney proved that it could pull big viewer numbers. In fact, IEM Sydney 2019 had a higher peak viewer count then last years Cologne and a higher average viewer count (check out this thread for all the info on viewer counts https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/bkzw0n/267k_peak_viewers_iem_sydney_2019/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app ).
A lot of NA/EU viewers complain about needing to watch games at 1am etc. but to have to do this once every few years isn’t the end of the world. If the actual timing of the games is the problem then the scheduling of the games could change. Currently games start at 3pm in Sydney, so moving them to an earlier time slot may make it more watchable for these ‘prime time’ time zones.
Overall, I just hope that valve removes their constraints on major time slots. The olympics, soccer World Cup and all other sports rotate around the world so I don’t understand why esports can’t do the same. Let’s bring a major to Sydney!
