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.

Protests over the rising costs of public transportation and the expense of hosting the 2014 World Cup have spread, leading as many as 200,000 protesters to march through the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities.

Play the Game and the Danish Institute for Sports Studies can now reveal the title and themes for this year’s Play the Game conference, taking place in Aarhus, Denmark from 28-31 October 2013.

New ways of networking and increased awareness against corruption in sport may become the most important legacies of Brazil’s hosting of the biggest mega-events in the next four years.

There was a loud call for a national Brazilian sports policy as well as for transparency in sport when Play the Game held a seminar in São Paulo last week.

The next football World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games threaten to produce a catalogue of white elephants for Brazil, while restricting benefits to the business community, a panel of academics warned at today’s Play the Game.

Brazil now faces the challenge to tame the commercial forces around The Summer Olympics and make them serve social development