Olympic TV & New Sports In Latest IOC Changes

The IOC has approved plans to create its own dedicated television channel, while the current 28-sport cap has also been scrapped.

The changes were voted on by the International Olympic Committee during a two-day meeting in Monaco, which also saw a number of changes passed on Monday that will make the Games cheaper and easier for host city candidates.

The new Olympic channel will be used to continue exposure of the Games during the four-year cycle between events.

According to media reports, the cost of creating the channel could be as high as €500 million over the 2015-2021 period, but is expected to break even around the ten-year mark.

The bulk of the funding will come from the IOC’s own funds, with the National Olympic Committees and International Federations adding an additional €72 million each over a specified period.  

In a bid to consolidate the channel, the IOC has also moved the winter and summer Youth Olympics to non-Olympic years so as to have one Olympic competition every year.

Meanwhile, a 28-sport cap for future summer Olympics has been dropped as part of a 40-point action plan to revamp the sporting showpiece.

Instead, each summer Games will be restricted to 10,500 athletes and 310 events.

No changes will be implemented for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro but both baseball and softball could now be included in the 2020 Games in Tokyo given they are highly popular in Japan.

Squash, which has failed on numerous occasions to win a place in the Olympics, could also benefit from the changes.

For that to happen, though, existing Olympic sports would need to reduce the number of events they stage.