If anyone wishes for all of the Majors stages to have crowds again, please give us a wish. You can send it to crew[a]readtldr.gg.

For the first time since the Rio Major, the Shanghai Major will have crowds for all three stages of the event.

Rio was really the only time we ever saw this at a full scale, but with that crowd having its own “quirks,” it’ll be really fun to see the whole major get the love it deserves. Especially with a Chinese crowd that proved to us this year that they have a lot of love for the game.

It’s especially cool for any surprise qualifiers who would normally not get this opportunity to play in front of fans.

These aren’t just small venues or studio crowds either. Cough Starladder cough.

The Opening and Elimination stages (we really need new names guys) will have up to 5.000 attendees, whilst the playoff stage can go all the way up to 13.000. If you need context, the Spodek used for IEM Katowice holds around 11.000 people at best.

Too bad there won’t be any English-speaking talent to experience it though.

PGL announced they acquired the rights to broadcast the major, which was entirely expected. Yet one word in their announcement did go a little under the radar and might make all the difference. That word being “remotely.”

Analysts and casters won't be with the crowd. We’re sure especially casters would agree that having a crowd significantly improves their work. For a Major, this just feels a little disappointing.

Thorin did say PGL tried this before and reconsidered, so we hope they do that again.