"We want to study the feasibility," said Paris 2024 chief of staff Michaël Aloïsio, per Francs Jeux.

"The question will be whether it is possible to go from the concept of a ceremony with a few tens of thousands of spectators, in a stadium, to an event much larger for the general public.

"The subject is very complex. 

"The reflection involves a large number of stakeholders, especially at the state level."

If the idea were adopted, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées would seem the obvious location.

Aloïsio did not rule using the Stade de France but suggested that with Opening and Closing Ceremonies for both Olympic and Paralympic Games to consider, organisers could "break boundaries".

The concept is said to be supported by Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach had expressed his enthusiasm for the idea in the wake of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics, which opened on the Avenida 9 de Julio.

"I was imagining what such kind of Opening Ceremony in the centre of a city, in a landmark place of a city, would mean for the Olympic Games," said Bach of festivities which took place against the backdrop of the famous Obelisk landmark in the city centre stage.

Organisers claimed that there were some 200,000 in attendance.

"Not inviting people to come and watch an Opening Ceremony, but to be there and celebrate with us, this Olympic spirit .

"I hope sincerely that the friends from Paris have heard this message loud and clear," Bach added.

At all three Winter Youth Olympics to date, all or part of the Closing Ceremony has taken part in the public areas of the city.

An Olympic Opening Ceremony has also begun outside the stadium before. 

In 1988, a flotilla of traditional craft on the Han River was the first thing television viewers saw at the start of the highly acclaimed Seoul Opening Ceremony.

More recently the final resting point for the Olympic Flame has been in a city location. 

Vancouver started the trend at the Winter Games of 2010 and in Rio de Janeiro, it burned throughout the Games at Candelaria in the centre of the city.

In France, a city-centre opening has already been tried. 

At the Nice 2013 Francophone Games, 54 teams marched into an Opening Ceremony at the Place Massena. 

The Games were opened by French President Francois Hollande and organisers claimed "the teams were acclaimed and applauded by the crowds in a demonstration of the diversity of the Francophone world, its colours and its youth."

There had been plans for the Napoli 2019 Universiade Closing Ceremony to be held in the city’s Piazza Plebiscito but these were shelved and the event relocated to the Stadio San Paolo.

The last Olympic Opening Ceremony to take place on French soil was for the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics.

It polarised artistic opinion with avant garde aerial displays and announcements in rhyming couplets, although organisers claimed: "The ceremonies, particularly the opening ceremony, were a large factor in the success of the Games."

It was choreographed by Philippe Decouflé who had devised dance sequences for the 200th anniversary celebrations of the French revolution. 

These were held on the Champs-Élysées.