The 2024 Olympic Games Committee Is Looking at eSports Potential
With the rising popularity of gaming, eSports is breaking new ground. It is transcending so far, in fact, that is is actually being considered for Paris’s Olympic Summer Games.
Recently, Los Angeles and Paris found themselves bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. However, Los Angeles pulled out of the bid and will now host them in 2028. Since then, the cities’ respective committees have expressed interest in including a possible eSports tournament in association with the international event.
It was Los Angeles that initially floated the idea for including eSports in the Olympics The current issue with the event is that it has witnessed a decline in viewers between the ages 18 and 49. The committee believes this may be remedied via the popularity of competitive video game tournaments. Paris seems to agree with the assessment.
Co-president of the Paris Olympic bid committee, Tony Estanguet, said that he is open to the idea. Although, he admits oblivion when it comes to eSports. Despite its being a very different animal than the traditional disciplines of the Olympic Games, he’s not going to dismiss it.
“We have to look at it because we can’t say, ‘It’s not us. It’s not about Olympics,’’ said Estanguet. “The youth, yes they are interested in eSports and this kind of thing. Let’s look at it. Let’s meet them. Let’s try if we can find some bridges. I don’t want to say ‘no’ from the beginning. I think it’s interesting to interact with the IOC, with them, the eSports family, to better understand what the process is and why it is such a success.”
It is curious to think about how gaming could be incorporated into the Olympic Games. We’d have to ponder which titles would be the subject of competition, among other things. But we won’t know if eSports will be in the branches until after the Tokyo Games, that is 2020. We have a while, so check back for gaming updates and related content as time goes by.