Formula 1 has its own esports series, with nine of 10 actual racing teams participating.GETTY IMAGES
Formula 1 believes esports "could be a game-changer," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. F1 Managing Dir, Commercial Operations Sean Bratches said that he wrote to IOC President Thomas Bach after the German indicated "non-shooter game" esports could be admitted to the Olympics. Bratches: "I said, 'This is what we're doing, we're reimagining the Formula 1 brand, we're pushing into new spaces that have not hitherto been touched and I'd like to have a conversation with you about Formula 1.' I extolled all the benefits of it and the fact that our (virtual) drivers actually do the same thing as athletes do." F1 has its own esports series, with nine of the 10 actual racing teams -- all but Ferrari -- involved in a virtual world championship that "drew 63,000 hopefuls on its debut" '17 season. Bratches said that he received "a very nice note" in return and attended an IOC esport meeting on the Friday before the German Grand Prix in July. He felt the IOC was "still taking stock" and one possibility could be "an independent stand-alone esport Olympics that is not attached from a date standpoint to the Olympic Games themselves" (REUTERS, 9/5).
EXPANDED COVERAGE: A record 16 disciplines from 14 sports will be available for rights holding broadcasters to show live from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Badminton, boccia, road cycling, goalball, triathlon and the marathon events in athletics -- sports that are either new or were not covered at Rio 2016 -- will all be covered live. At Rio 2016 and London 2012, 12 Paralympic disciplines were available for broadcasters to screen live (IPC).
PHISHING SCAM: KYODO reported a group of hackers "has been planning to target the American and Japanese public by emailing fake offers of tickets" to Tokyo 2020 "to steal private information," according to a Singaporean security firm. No damage has been reported "as a result of the group's activities" (KYODO, 9/6).
