The Paris bid team has revealed they’re keen to discuss the introduction of esports to the Olympic Games for 2024 as a medal sport. The co-president of the Paris bid committee has confirmed it will speak to the International Olympic Committee about the inclusion.
In an interview with the associated press, Tony Estanguet has stated “We have to look at it because we can’t say, ‘It’s not us. It’s not about Olympics. The youth, yes they are interested in eSport 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.”
The Olympic programme for the 2024 Games will take place in 2019 with the final call to take place after Tokyo. Next year, the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia will take place which will feature medal events for esports.
Esports has generated $493 million in revenue with a global audience of about 320 million people in 2016.