ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the involvement of Olympic and Paralympic stakeholders in the production of the relationship between sports and esports. In so doing, it conveys how the financial stakeholders of the Games are aligning with esports and how this is influencing their growing synergy. By considering commercial relationships, programmes, and institutional shifts – particularly from Olympic and Paralympic federations – this chapter describes the growing closeness of esports to the Olympic and Paralympic programme. In so doing, it circumvents the often philosophical discussions that take place around the logic of connecting esports with traditional sports, which focus on whether there is enough conceptual overlap between these practices to justify their being within the same programmes. This chapter examines evidence of the aligning worlds of sports and esports, arguing that there are explanations for why the debate about the relationship between the two is taking place and why it is reasonable to conclude that the future of all sports is the integration of esport.
