The "soft opening" at the MPC, located in Porte Maillot in the 17th arrondissement on the right bank of the Seine to the northwest of the French capital, will see the first arrivals of 25,000 journalists and technicians expected to converge to cover the Olympics.

The MPC will open at 8am and close at 10pm until July 20, six days before the Opening Ceremony, when it will be operational around the clock until it shuts it doors on August 12, the day after the Games are scheduled to close.

It was announced in July 2022 that the Palais des Congrès replaced the initial site for the MPC which had been located at the Parc des Expositions du Bourget.

One of the key elements in the decision to relocate the MPC, according to Paris 2024 International Communication and PR, was the desire to use existing infrastructures to reduce the cost of temporary facilities and time required to make the site available.

The MPC will occupy levels one, two and three of the Palais des Congrès de Paris and cover approximately 22.000 square metres, with 4,500 square metres of that given over to private offices, it was revealed during the final World Press Briefing before the Olympics are due to open here next year.

The Palais des Congrès de Paris, originally designed by Christian de Portzamparc, is part of the same complex as a skyscraper hotel, the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile .

The ground floor and lower level will remain open to the public during the Games.

Facilities will include three restaurants and two cafes, a supermarket, pharmacy and laundry services.

The MPC will also be the main transport hub for the media and there are public transport services, including the metro, rail, bus and tram, located close by.

The media will also be able to order food deliveries and take them back into the MPC.

There is due to be four press conference rooms named after rivers in France.

WiFi will be free, as will coffee and tea, along with water available from fountains located around the MPC. 

The Palais des Congrès hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1978 when Israeli singer Izhar Cohen won with a number called A-Ba-Ni-Bi.

It is also the venue for the annual unveiling of the route for the following year’s Tour de France.

The International Broadcast Centre, which hosts around 15,000 people between Olympic Broadcasting Services and the official broadcasters, including journalists and technical teams, has been confirmed at Parc des Expositions - Paris - Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis) during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

For the Paralympics, the MPC is due to be located at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in Seine-Saint-Denis.

The planned 6,000-capacity venue is one of the new facilities under construction for Paris 2024 and is set to serve as a venue for artistic swimming, diving and water polo at the Olympics.

There is no competition planned to be held at the venue during the Paralympics, but the Paris 2024 Board of Directors approved a proposal last December to use it as the MPC for the duration of the Games.

It is due to begin operation on August 22, six days before the Paralympic Games are due to open.

Unlike the Olympics, the MPC will not be open 24 hours a day during the Paralympics.

It will open at 8am and close at 1am the following day.

The Paralympics MPC is due to close on September 9, the day after the Paralympics Closing Ceremony, at midday.