LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The first Olympic Esports Games will soon be added to the IOC’s event portfolio as it looks to attract and retain a young audience.
The International Olympic Committee said Friday it will ask members to approve a proposal to create an Olympic Games for video games when they meet in Paris next month, on the eve of the Summer Games.
The Olympic body said it was in “advanced discussions with a potential host,” which should be announced shortly after the July 23-24 meeting in Paris.
“The IOC is taking a major step forward in keeping up with the pace of the digital revolution,” president Thomas Bach said in an online briefing.
The Esports Olympics build on an IOC-backed week of video game competitions held in Singapore last year. It was a mix of physical simulations of Olympic sports and traditional video games.
The IOC said 75% of viewers involved in the Singapore events were between the ages of 13 and 34.
The new project is another victory within Olympic circles for French official David Lappartient, who is increasingly seen as a potential IOC leadership candidate.
Lappartient, the chairman of cycling’s governing body, was given the esports assignment by Bach several years ago. Last year he was also chosen to lead the French Olympic organization and steered a bid in the French Alps to become the IOC’s surprise preferred bid to host the 2030 Winter Games. Sweden was favourite.
Bach said on Friday that it was a “no-brainer” that Lappartient would remain involved in the Esports Olympics project.
In an effort to reassure Olympic sports that do not have an esports presence, Bach said the video games event would have a financial model separate from the current distribution of revenue from the Summer and Winter Games.
“We will not embark on financial adventures that would jeopardize their subsidies,” Bach said, referring to Olympic sports governing bodies that receive shares every four years from IOC funding worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Olympic Games AP: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
