The introduction of new sports and more urban and visually spectacular venues are needed to attract a younger audience and thus ensure the survival of the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday.

The IOC overhauled the process for adding sports to the Games a few years ago. The seven-year waiting period was abolished and a number of new sports were introduced for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, including surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding.

The Paris Games organizers retained all three disciplines and added breakdancing, in an attempt to appeal to a younger audience and create new opportunities for sponsors and broadcasters.

“If we don’t get young people involved in sport, we won’t be around for much longer,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams.

“We need to attract a young audience and go where they are. We need to attract young people to the sport, otherwise we are dead, basically.”

Many of these sports and other disciplines are organised in temporary, central, outdoor locations in the centre of Paris to bring them closer to the population, rather than in traditional sporting venues.

READ ALSO | Paris 2024 Olympics: ‘I’m being cheated in this game,’ says Gauff as Vekic gives up her singles medal hopes

Basketball 3×3, skating and break are held at La Concorde in the heart of the city. Marathon swimming and triathlon use the Seine River that flows through the centre of Paris — pollution levels permitting — while French Polynesia hosts the surfing competition, providing a spectacular visual backdrop from the South Pacific.

“All these sports, the formats, the way we present sports, we have to keep changing. It’s change or be changed. We want to lead change, not be led by it.”

The IOC also recently signed a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia to host the Olympic esports Games, hoping to appeal to a younger audience and eventually attract them to the Olympics.

“We’re getting involved in esports, that’s where younger people are and we need to figure out what drives them to do that and how we can give them the benefits of sport and combine the benefits of esports with sport,” Adams said.