Alright, so I'm confused about one thing. Why are you opposed to a smaller IM division? What problems does having a small IM division actually create?
I don't understand why there its a problem to have a smaller prize-pot and fewer teams in IM. If you merge IM and open, it is just going to make fewer low level teams want to join open in the first place since they will just be stomped on by teams that are leagues ahead of their level. When most new teams join open, they already have to deal with most of the playoff teams 5-0ing them, and with this merge, it is going to create many more 5-0s and really give a lot of new players a bad taste in their mouths.
Won't you just LOSE money if you merge? Won't you have to refund the players who have already payed their IM fees? Maybe I'm missing something that you haven't communicated to us but this decision makes no sense in the slightest. It is going to shrink the number of players transitioning over from UGC and is going to really hurt people's motivation to try to make playoffs if they have to face multiple teams full of invite players.