Crossing the Atlantic for the first time, the 11th edition of the Play the Game conference sets the athletes center stage. Join them and other leading stakeholders in debates on sports governance, corruption and crime, safeguarding of athletes, the future of anti-doping and other vital issues in sport. Bring your ideas, solutions and expertise to Play the Game 2019 in Colorado Springs (CO), USA, from 13-16 October

Never before has the power of athletes drawn so much attention in the international sports debate as now. The international anti-doping crisis has unleashed a battle over who has the right to represent athletes. Big federations struggle to gain credibility among their millions of members. Athletes have started speaking up against abuse in many countries, and their wish to compete in alternative settings is shattering the structure of elite sport as we know it.

Athletes at all levels are the first to suffer the consequences of the challenges to modern sport: the threat from organised crime on and off the playing field, the need for more democracy in organisations, the lack of access to physical activity, the growing skepticism against mega-events, the political manipulation of anti-doping policies…

And yet, it does not only take athletes’ engagement, but an effort from all other stakeholders in sport to meet those challenges and find solutions.

Play the Game 2019 invites athletes, sports officials, governments, academics, journalists, industry official and all other stakeholders in sport to share your knowledge, experience and opinions in Colorado Springs, from 13-16 October – at the 11th edition of a conference that has a history of more than 20 years as a cutting edge forum for independent and fact-based sports debate.

Thanks to generous support from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS) and a number of local partners, Play the Game can for the first time hold its conference outside Europe.

It is an outstanding opportunity to compare the international and North American sports models and see what they can learn from each other. It is also a chance to draw inspiration both from the efforts U.S. authorities have done to stop international sporting crime and corruption, and from the current abuse and mismanagement cases on its own soil that North American sport is now confronted with.

Conference themes
Though no issue is excluded in advance, we have selected some themes of special relevance. We invite you to submit your proposals as an abstract or storyline with relevance to one of these themes:

- Sports governance: Tracking the voice of the athletes
- Anti-doping: Can the confidence crisis be overcome?
- Corruption and crime in sport: Too big to tackle?
- Children at risk: Protecting athletes against abuse
- Breaking monopolies: Can anybody own a sport?
- Rethinking sport and physical activity: Time to play again?
- Breaking news or faking news: The industry of integrity

See a detailed description of the themes on our websites.

Deadline for abstract/storyline submission is Tuesday 23 April 2019

Abstracts/storylines will be peer reviewed by leading academics, journalists and sports practioners from the 2019 conference Programme Committee.

Academic abstracts will be peer reviewed by academics in a double-blind process.

Upon approval of abstract/storyline, the author(s) will be offered either a 10 minutes’ speaking slot or relevant spots in alternative session formats (e.g. workshops, round tables).

If you are unsure if there is room for your area of expertise in the conference programme, do not hesitate to contact us.

Open Forum
An Open Forum is also available to speakers:

- who address issues not covered by the main themes
- whose abstracts are not accepted in the peer review process, but whose ideas are
found relevant as inspiration
- who offer interventions/investigations of a more personal character
- who submit last-minute registrations

in the Open Forum, speakers are given a seven minute timeslot to present their main points.

Poster presentations
A third option is to make poster presentations. More information on the requirements will follow.

Submit your abstract/storyline
The online submission system is managed by Ektimo I/S (Manuscript Manager)

Deadline for abstract/storyline submission is Tuesday 23 April 2019

Notifications on approval of abstracts will be sent by e-mail no later than 1 July 2019.

Please note that the registration price for abstract submitters will be calculated as of the day of the abstract submission. More information on conference prices.

International launch of research projects
If you are preparing a major research project or a campaign, Play the Game 2019 offers you to use our conference to launch your project internationally.

Play the Game expects the participation of around 100 journalists representing media across the globe and is an ideal platform for reaching a worldwide audience and building lasting working relations.

We thank you in advance for any help in distributing this message to friends, colleagues and others who share the goals of Play the Game: To promote democracy, transparency and freedom of expression in world sport.