Play the Game day revealed Brazilian appetite for more sports debate
The debate was heated and the media repercussion remarkable when 85 speakers and participants met in São Paulo last week to discuss legacy of mega-events, lack of sports democracy, FIFA relations and the need for a national Brazilian sports strategy.
It was an experiment that went well beyond the optimistic expectations when Play the Game last week gathered 85 journalists, academics, sports leaders, business executives and students to a one-day seminar in São Paulo in Brazil entitled ”Mega-events and Democracy: Risks and Opportunities”.
The seminar took place Wednesday 24 October 2012 on invitation by the big Brazilian sport and culture organisation SESC São Paulo as a forerunner for the Move2012 congress hosted by SESC and the International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA). The event took place in SESC Vila Mariana, one of the more than 30 impressive sport and culture centres run by this organisation in the São Paulo area alone.
The debate about Brazilian sports politics reflected many different concerns about what the upcoming events will mean to the country’s sports life and democracy, as you will see in these reports from the seminar:
World Cup and Olympics should make citizens active
Brazilians fight for transparency in games
The international top name at the seminar was the ex-FIFA deputy secretary general and director of international relations Jérôme Champagne whose visions for the future of FIFA drew a lot of attention from TV, newspapers and internet media.
Champagne’s message was covered by Play the Game a few weeks ago on the occasion of the EASM 2012 conference in Aalborg Denmark – see our reports and videos here
Another issue that was widely covered in Brazil was a report on the future use of the 12 Brazilian World Cup Stadiums, produced by the Danish Institute for Sports Studies as an annex to the World Stadium Index.
One of the news stories on this report at the big internet portal uol.com.br drew more than 100,000 readers.
playthegame.org has dedicated a theme page to this day where you will find various types of documentation from this day such as presentations, photos etc.