Mega-events will be one of the main themes at Play the Game 2015 and the issue will be thoroughly debated by a selection of top speakers within the area.

Does the Hamburg 2024 bid represent the future of the Olympic Games or are the underlying mechanisms still the same, giving old-fashioned bids a new legitimacy? Leading up to a local referendum in November Dennis Pauschinger comments on what he sees as the discrepancy between the words and the action in the Hamburg 2024 bid plans.

The Sport and Rights Alliance raises critique over lack of explicit human rights consideration in the newly released IOC Host City Contract.

The London Olympics in 2012 were supposed to inspire a whole generation to take up sport. It did not happen and the UK government is now giving its entire sports strategy an overhaul in a nationwide consultation process.

Analysis: India has the potential to emerge as the next superpower in sport, but corruption and the lack of governing reforms have come in between. Murali Krishnan analyses sports politics in a country that has been called sport’s ‘sleeping giant’.

In a state-backed report, consultants find the Boston 2024 bid’s costs to be underestimated and the benefits overestimated. Boston 2024 organisers say the report missed out on details and is flawed.

With the prospect of runaway expenses, the Japanese government last month pulled the brake and launched a new design contest for Tokyo’s new Olympic stadium. But the debate about who is to blame for the fiasco continues.

Transparency International has joined forces with the #NewFIFANow campaign to convince the Executive Committee to embark on real reform at their July 20 meeting.