The President of the International Olympics Committee wants to lure more Millennials into the bosom of the Olympic movement but draws the line at killing terrorists.
I was sports mad when I was younger, but the Olympics?
I used to watch the top British athletes: Steve Cram, Steve Ovett, and Seb Coe, and would always tune in to watch the 100m & 200m, but the rest of the crap?
Even the football matches aren’t real football matches.
But my Mum loves it.
So I guess, the Olympics is for old people who never shift their arse off the settee. A theory backed up by a 2016 New Republic article showing the median age for US viewers of the 2008 Beijing Olympics at 47, 48 at the 2012 London Games, and 55 at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.
The International Olympics Committee (IOC) has also read that piece. They know the Olympics is a fading beast, and are trying to change that by appealing to millennial audiences.
Five new sports will appear in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics: skateboarding, surfing, sports climbing, and karate.
Well, that should do it. Millennials everywhere will put down their mobile phone, turn off their PlayStation and tune in, because sports like skateboarding and sports climbing are rad man.
But what do you expect?
I imagine the average age of the IOC is 85.
Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, who incidentally is 63, is acutely aware of the need to do something to attract a younger audience to the games, because before too long the dinosaurs will be dead and nobody will be watching.
The fastest growing sport amongst millennials isn’t skateboarding; it’s esports. Bach is aware but wants to proceed with caution. Speaking, during a visit to Alibaba HQ in Hangzhou, Bach was aware of the benefits of incorporating esports into the Olympics, but only if they fell in line with Olympic Values, and guess what? It seems, playing an esport where you hunt down and kill terrorists falls out of line with those values.
“We want to promote non-discrimination, non-violence, and peace among people. This doesn’t match with video games, which are about violence, explosions and killing. And there we have to draw a clear line,” Bach told the South China Morning Post
I guess Valve, Riot Games, et al. should create esport versions of skateboarding, surfing, karate, and sports climbing then?
Bach might have a problem with shooting someone in the head to win a gold medal, and who can blame him, but he doesn’t have a problem with electronic versions of bona fide physical sports, meaning good news for fans of FIFA and NBA2K, for example.
The other concern Bach raised was a lack of industry regulation, a point that Ladbrokes CEO, Jason Scott, made at the recent Gaming, Racing, and Wagering Australia conference in Sydney, prompting Unikrn founder Rahul Sood to compare Scott’s understanding of esports with your grandparents understanding of the difference between Facebook and Twitter.
News that esports will form part of the 2024 Paris Olympic games is purely anecdotal, with Bach saying they are a long way from ratifying that kind of decision.
Esports Entertainment Group Gain New License
The Esports Entertainment Group has obtained a Curaçao eGaming License allowing it to offer real money online gambling and wagering.
The online gambling company, formerly known as VGambling, was hoping to launch their esports product in June, so they are a little behind schedule.
At the beginning of the month, Stephen Cotugno joined the company as Vice President of Corporate Finance, and Brian Cordry joined as Head of Esports. Also in the pipeline, is a 60,000 sq ft Esports Coliseum planned for Antigua.
Rumour is when the coliseum is not being used for esports events it will be used to skateboarding, surfing, sports climbing, and karate.
