ESL has revealed that the IEM Katowice 2020 playoffs, which were set to be held in the Spodek Arena, will no longer be played in front of a live audience. This decision is due to the fact that the Silesian Voivodeship has revoked the mass event license of IEM Katowice.

This decision means “Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2020 will not have any audience on-site” the announcement explains. ESL will be working to fully refund all tickets for the event in the wake of this decision.

You can read the full post from ESL below:

“At 19:45 CET we were informed by the Silesian Voivodeship that our mass event license for IEM Katowice was revoked. Until that moment we had a legally binding decision allowing us to organize the event, which was reconfirmed multiple times over the last few days. The last time the decision was confirmed was several hours ago. The Governor of Silesian (Silesian Voivode) Jarosław Wieczorek issued a decision to remove their approval regarding ESL hosting a mass event in Katowice, Poland. Due to this development, Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2020 will not have any audience on-site.

ESL respects this decision from the local authorities and is currently working on reaching out to all ticket holders, guests, and media. Tickets will be fully refunded. The tournament will be conducted and broadcasted as planned, but without any additional visitors on-site. We are deeply sorry for all fans and players.”

This comes just a day after ESL revealed they would be implementing health screenings for those attending the event. The coronavirus has already been seen in 33 countries with over 80,000 confirmed cases with just under 3,000 deaths.



Posted: Feb 27, 2020 4:18 pm
Last Updated: Feb 27, 2020 4:22 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://www.vpesports.com/csgo/news/iem-katowice-will-not-be-played-in-front-of-a-crowd-due-to-coronavirus-fears