IOC Proposes Creation of “Olympic Esports Games”

The International Olympic Committee will vote on the creation of an “Olympic Esports Games” at the 142nd IOC Session this summer in Paris after the executive board approved the recommendation on Friday, adding it is already in advanced discussions with a potential host and an announcement can be expected “very soon.”

The IOC Esports Commission is chaired by IOC member David Lappartient, the head of cycling’s international federation who led the IOC Esports Liaison Group until the creation of the new Commission. Lappartient, the president of cycling’s governing body, was given the esports brief several years ago. Last year, he also was elected to lead France’s Olympic body and steered a French Alps bid to be the preferred bid of the IOC to host the 2030 Winter Games.

“With the creation of Olympic Esports Games, the IOC is taking a major step forward and is keeping up with the pace of the digital revolution,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “We are very excited how enthusiastically the esports community represented in our Esports Commission has engaged with this initiative. This is further proof of the attractivity of the Olympic brand and the values it stands for.”

Olympic Esports Week, which was held for the first time in Singapore in June, invited both professional and amateur players from across the world to compete in virtual sports competitions. The IOC said for last summer’s event, over 130 players competed in 10 mixed-gender category events. Including qualifiers, the IOC claims the Olympic Esports Series attracted over 500,000 unique participants and generated more than six million views of live action over all channels.

The executive board said international federations already engaged in an e-version of their sport that is considered for inclusion in the “Olympic Esports Games” would be the IOC’s first go-to partners and the same will be true for National Olympic Committees that include esports in their activities. Bach said the video games event would have a financial model separate from the current sharing of revenue from the Summer Games and Winter Games.

“We are not entering into financial adventures which would put their subventions at risk,” Bach said, referring to Olympic sports governing bodies which get shares from IOC funding worth hundreds of millions of dollars every four years.

The 2023 event included esports games for archery, baseball, chess, cycling, dance, motorsport, sailing, taekwondo, tennis and shooting through Fortnite. Popular games such as Counter-Strike, Call of Duty and first-person shooter games have traditionally been opposed by the IOC throughout its developing acceptance of esports.

“With respect to esports, our values are and remain the red line that we will never cross,” Bach said.

New IOC membership was also discussed with Gene Sykes, board chair of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, among those recommended for membership. The Executive Board also proposed the re-election of 15 IOC Members within the age limit, including Bach; U.S. Olympian Anita DeFrantz; Canadian Olympic Committee President Tricia Smith; Puerto Rico’s Richard Carrion; Ukrainian pole vault legend Sergi Bubka; Karl Stoss, chair of the Future Host Commission and Ivo Ferriani, president of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.