Paris Olympic team bidding for eSports as a medal event

And we’re not joking about the headline either…

Esports is seeing continuous growth over the past few years since its introduction to the video game industry. Television networks are nabbing rights to air esporting tournaments and esport events are popping up at non-gaming festivals with most recently, the Rocket League tournament at the Summer X Games.

But esports could get the biggest push into mainstream media when reports of the Paris Olympic bid committee are planning to include competitive gaming as a medal event at the Olympics.

The co-president of the Paris bid committee Tony Estanguet will meet with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and esports representatives on the inclusion of competitive gaming at future Olympic events.

“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,” Estanguet stated in an interview with the Associated Press.

“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.”

Could we see competitive gaming as an Olympic medal event? Source: Twitter/@ForbesGames

With the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announcing back in April the inclusion of esports as a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games, this could be the perfect opportunity for competitive gaming to be recognised by mainstream media.

However, IOC president Thomas Bach doesn’t sound convinced regarding OCA’s decision to include competitive gaming as a medal event.

“We are not yet 100% clear whether eSports is really sport, with regard to physical activity and what it needs to be considered sport.”

Whether the IOC agrees not to feature competitive gaming as a medal event, the mere fact that sporting bodies are discussiing the possibility of having competitive gaming at the Olympics could be the step in the right direction.

With the crossover between esports and Olympics could potentially bring in more viewership among the young demographic, if it doesn’t make it to the Paris Games in 2024, we could see in Los Angeles at the 2028 Summer Games.