The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday announced that it has partnered with the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Saudi Arabia to host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games 2025 in Saudi Arabia.
This groundbreaking step follows the IOC’s recent announcement that the IOC Executive Board (EB) has established Olympic Esports Games. The proposal will be made to the IOC Session, which will be held on the eve of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The duration of the partnership between the IOC and the Saudi NOC will be 12 years, with Olympic Esports Games held regularly.
The partnership comes at a time of significant growth of sport overall in Saudi Arabia and is driven by the country’s social and economic transformation under Vision 2030. Since 2018, the Kingdom has been entrusted with delivering some of the biggest global sports events, staging over 100 international events for both male and female athletes, including esports, football, motorsports, tennis, equestrian, and golf, attracting over 2.6 million sports fans.
As a result, sport has become a growing part of everyday life in Saudi Arabia at every level, from amateur to elite. Overall sports participation levels have more than tripled since 2015 to almost 50 percent of the country’s population. The number of sports federations has also increased threefold during this time, from 32 to 98, with the Saudi Esports Federation being one example of the growth underway. As many as 67 percent of the Saudi population consider themselves to be gamers, with an ever-increasing number, currently 100, of pro esports players pursuing full-time careers.
Women’s sport, in particular, has witnessed rapid growth, and almost half of the Kingdom’s 23 million gamers are female. There are now also over 330,000 registered female athletes and nearly 40 women’s national teams competing internationally. Grassroots sport is flourishing, too, with sport firmly part of the school curriculum for all girls, as demonstrated by the 70,000 schoolgirls playing in the school football league each week. In addition to playing sport, reforms to regulations ensure there is female representation on the boards of all sports federations, with over 100 women now appointed, including seven female federation presidents. Additionally, all female and male athletes receive exactly the same level of pay when on national duty in their sport.
Following the announcement, and the decision which will be taken by the IOC Session, work will begin on selecting a city and venue for the inaugural edition of the Olympic Esports Games, the specific timing of the event, the titles to be included, the qualification process for the players, and further details.
The IOC has already emphasised that international federations already engaged in an e-version of their sport that is considered for inclusion in the Olympic Esports Games will be the IOC’s first go-to partners. The same will be true for National Olympic Committees that already include esports in their activities.
At the same time, the IOC will have to create a new dedicated structure within its organisation, clearly separated from the organisational and financial model for the Olympic Games. In order to address the specific nature of the Olympic Esports Games, the IOC will also have to take a different approach with regard to the financing and organisation of these games.
