The team behind the Paris 2024 Olympics bid is looking to discuss adding esports to the event lineup. Paris is set to be ratified as the host of the 2024 Olympics in September, after which it will begin to determine which events it wants to hold.
“We have to look at it because we can’t say, ‘it’s not about Olympics,’” Paris 2024 co-president Tony Estanguet said. “The youth are interested, so let’s meet them.”
Esports are set to be included in the 2022 Asian Games, and are rapidly becoming a lucrative business. Professional gaming events is said to have a global audience of 320 million people practically ensuring that any event has a substantial following.
It’s uncertain as to what the Paris 2024 teams has in mind when it says eSports. The blanket term covers a lot of games, some far more popular than others. That said, it’s very likely that either Dota 2 or League of Legends will end up on the shortlist.
France will only begin to finalise its list of events after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, leaving the team with plenty of time to discuss esports. It will also have the luxury of observing the response at the 2022 Asian Games to determine if the spirit of the Olympics can really be preserved with professional gaming in the mix.
[Source: BBC]
