Press Release: Coventry to host Play the Game

World sport leaders will hear how the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games will have a positive impact on Coventry and Warwickshire.

Coventry will be the first city outside of the Nordic countries to host Play the Game, the world communication conference on sport and its role in society.

The five-day event, hosted by Coventry University’s Centre for the International Business of Sport, will run between Monday June 8 and Friday June 12.

One of the items on the agenda for the sixth Play the Game conference will be the legacy issues associated with London and Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.

Tom Clift, partnership manager for the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership for the 2012 Games, will join a list of 120 speakers hailing from 27 countries at this year’s conference and speak on the legacy and the regional opportunities surrounding the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

He said: “The benefits of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will stretch much further than the boundaries of the capital city and we are working hard to secure ongoing benefits and opportunities for our sub-region.

“I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to welcome and inform delegates of the partnership’s plans for the next three years, including our six flagship projects which are now beginning their phased delivery.

“Play the Game is the world’s leading international conference on sport and society so there really is no better stage on which to showcase Coventry and Warwickshire’s vision and ambitions surrounding the London 2012 Games.”

Over 20 Olympic and Paralympic legends from Coventry and Warwickshire, including David Moorcroft the CW 2012 Partnership’s lead ambassador, have also been invited to attend the Lord Mayor’s reception at the event on June 8.

Dr Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport Business Strategy and Marketing at Coventry University, said: “'This is one of the world's leading sport conferences, and as such will address many of the most important challenges currently facing sport.

“Hosting the conference therefore puts Coventry and Warwickshire right in the spotlight of world sport.

“We are delighted that Play the Game selected the Centre for the International Business of Sport (CIBS) as the venue for its biennial conference, especially as we beat significant international competition.”

The conference promises to be the most extensive ever and will touch on subjects including corruption, drugs, sport in times of crisis, financing and the recession.

ENDS

Notes to editors:
Other speakers at the event will include Richard Pound, International Olympics Committee member, David Howman, chief executive of the World Anti-doping Agency, Greg Lemond, former Tour de France winner, William Gaillard, senior adviser to Michel Platini at UEFA and Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, chief executive officer of European Professional Football Leagues.

Media enquiries:
Simon Gilbert
Advent Communications
2 Edison Building
Electric Wharf
Sandy Lane
Coventry  CV1 4JA
Tel: 024 7663 3636
http://www.advent-communications.co.uk