Australia’s bid for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups did not fail due to a lack of suitability or a lack of infrastructure, the former head of Corporate and Strategic Affairs at the Australian Football Association (FFA) Bonita Mersiades told delegates at Play the Game 2013.

In Portugal, the local municipality of Leiria is paying 5,000 Euro per day in maintenance costs for a stadium that is now closed. And a further eight percent of the annual local municipality budget is spent repaying the mortgage of the stadium that was built for the European championships in football in 2004.

Brazil’s Deputy Minister of Sport Luis Fernandes is ready to debate with critics of the country’s mega-events this Thursday at Play the Game 2013.

What are the true legacies and costs of mega-events? Play the Game 2013, taking place in Aarhus, Denmark on 28-31 October, raises a critical debate on a theme where sport meets big politics.

The preliminary programme of Play the Game 2013 is at hand now. Early bird-deadline is postponed to give you time to consider your favourite Play the Game themes.

Calls for boycott of a mega-event because of the host country's national politics are never far away, and the image battle rages in the media. In this article from The Conversation, David Rowe examines the relationship between sport and politics.

More and more sports wish to be included in the Olympic Games – an event that has already grown too big. IOC faces the dilemma of accepting more sports making the Olympics even more gigantesque or facing the risk of rival competitions. A way out of the dilemma could be the creation of the Olympic Spring Games, argues Jean-Loup Chappelet one year after the London 2012 Games.

Newly published reports on the London Olympics paint a positive picture of the impacts of the Games on the British economy.