International Olympic Committee Signs 12-Year Deal With Saudi Arabia for Esports Olympic Games

International Olympic Committee and the Saudi government ink 12-year deal for Esports Olympic Games. Pictured: (l) IOC President Thomas Bach, (r) HRH Crown Prince MBS, taken during a meeting in December 2023. Credit: IOC

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Friday a 12-year deal with the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Saudi Arabia (the Saudi Arabian government) to serve as the host country for the Esports Olympic Games.

Financial terms of this deal were not disclosed.

This news follows the IOC’s announcement that its Executive Board had established the Olympic Esports Games earlier in the year.

IOC President Thomas Bach praised the NOC and its promotion of gender equality in the announcement:

“We are very fortunate to be able to work with the Saudi NOC on the Olympic Esports Games, because it has great – if not unique – expertise in the field of esports with all its stakeholders. The Olympic Esports Games will greatly benefit from this experience. By partnering with the Saudi NOC we have also ensured that the Olympic values are respected, in particular, with regard to the game titles on the programme, the promotion of gender equality and engagement with the young audience, which is embracing esports.”

At the center of this deal is IOC President Thomas Bach, Minister of Sport, President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and president of the Saudi Esports Federation, VP of Global Esports Federation, and president of the International Esports Federation HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal (HRH Prince Faisal); Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (HRH Crown Prince MBS); and Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud—IOC member, member of the board of directors of the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and president of the Women’s Committee.

The groundwork for this deal was well underway when Bach visited Riyadh in December to attend the Saudi National Games, which featured traditional Olympic competitions and a smattering of esports.

At the time, Bach said:

“The seamless organization of this event and the professional development of sport in Saudi Arabia are very impressive. I have rarely seen such a positive development of sport in such a short time. With increased engagement at all levels, and in particular a rise in the level of female participation, the goals of the sports strategy in many ways mirror the aims of our Olympic Agenda reform programme.”

The biggest concern amongst rank-and-file esports fans is that the games they consider to be top-tier competitive titles will not be included in any Olympic games, as they are a “red line” that the IOC refuses to cross because they contain violent content. Some reports on Friday suggested that the IOC/NOC are already in negotiations with major publishers about bringing their IPs to the international Olympic stage in 2025 (the Esports Advocate cannot independently verify the veracity of those reports).

In addition, the IOC’s insistence that member federations will have influence on what games should be included in any Esports Olympic Games gives fans who watched 2023’s Olympic Esports Week continual heartburn—as member federations pushed no-name games such as Tic Tac Bow and Virtual Taekwondo onto the world stage, and many of those titles were developed by companies that member federations had direct financial ties to.

Gender Equality in the Kingdom

Bach and HRH Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud put a heavy emphasis on gender equality in Friday’s announcement.

From Bach:

“The Women’s Committee under the leadership of IOC Member Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud was essential in advancing women’s sport in Saudi Arabia. They worked closely with the NOC of Saudi Arabia to achieve this progress. Having their support to advance female participation also in esports is a valuable commitment. We are looking forward to our cooperation.”

HRH Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud:

“Witnessing the growing trends of female participation in esports is very exciting. I had the honour of working towards women’s empowerment in sport and in society as whole under Vision 2030, and the leadership of HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and I’ve witnessed firsthand the tremendous positive impact of sport for women and girls. I look forward to the Olympic Esports Games as an opportunity for more female participation from across the globe in a safe and inclusive space.”

But activists, especially those who have managed to find asylum in other countries, say that these efforts at creating entertainment (sports, esports, and other forms of entertainment) in Saudi Arabia are just efforts to cover up the country’s human rights abuses and mistreatment of women under its male guardianship system. For example, in a Twitter live space on Thursday, activists speaking on Saudi Arabia being appointed to lead the United Nations Women’s Rights Council, told their stories on how, even after leaving the country, they continue to be assailed by the government and its proxy agents for speaking out publicly on women’s rights in Saudi Arabia.

One such activist, Elise Evans, the executive director of Human Rights Matter, explained to TEA why critics aren’t accepting this message of alleged equality in the Kingdom:

Princess Reema, speaks about the growing participation of women in esports but she forgets to mention that they are not considered free and independent women. We are minors in perpetuity. Which means that the girls who are participating are doing so with the permission of their guardians. 

While some women have guardians who are lenient, the vast majority do not have that luxury. Saudi Arabia is no different from Afghanistan in the sense that if a girl was forbidden from going to school by her guardian there is no course for recourse and no legal entity would interfere in what is considered a family matter. 

While the princess came out and said that male guardianship has ended and now women can travel and have her own bank account, her speech was so politically formed as to distract from the fact that male guardianship didn’t end; it was only rebranded and codified under the personal status law. This law allows for abuse, rape, and honor killings, along with so much more. 

Having access to sports or esports again is a very small thing on our radar as women in Saudi Arabia. We would rather have the right to say no, the right to decide who we marry, the right to go out of our homes without permission. Esports for these women isn’t progress, it’s coverup so the real issues aren’t addressed and the international community turns a blind eye so that MBS can get investors for his 2030 plan by showing things have changed when everything is the same.

Stories such as the one below, which describes the fate of those who speak up, are numerous on social media:

Critics also point out that imagery of young girls engaging in everyday activities are great fantasies (promoted by major international brands like in the Nike video below), but not rooted in reality on the ground:

The Saudi Arabian government has been under fire for what critics call “sports washing,” or using sports and other forms of entertainment as a cover for its record on human rights, women’s rights, and military actions in Yemen, among other things, highlighted by international watchdog groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.