SportAccord 2024 - sport as a ‘powerful, transformative tool’ under spotlight at CityAccord

Are you looking to make the best case for hosting sports and associated events in your city?

Join the CityAccord (Day 2 - Tuesday, 9 April) of SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit for an exciting series of action-packed sessions, leaving no stone unturned to cover every aspect of hosting.

First up - why sport plays such a powerful role in contributing to the world’s biggest public policy changes, and what more can be done.

Meet Melanie Duparc - Secretary General of World Union of Olympic Cities and Director of smartcities & sport - to hear exactly what we have learned from sport’s positive impact on health and wellbeing, civic pride, social cohesion, skills and jobs, sustainability and active travel, and how to continue making the case for investment in an increasingly complex world.

“I am convinced that with sport, cities have a powerful transformative tool that positively contributes to addressing today’s major challenges - from health to mobility, social inclusion to environment, urban marketing to economic development. I am delighted to be showcasing inspiring initiatives and meaningful projects during CityAccord in Birmingham-West Midlands,” explained Duparc.

Next on the agenda - CityAccord delegates get the inside track on two transformative initiatives for maximum inspiration.

Making ‘sport and physical activity normal’ in everyday life

Join Chris Boardman MBE - Commissioner of Active Travel England, Chair of Sport England and Olympic cycling gold medallist. With a professional cycling career seeing him take several Tour de France yellow jerseys, world titles and world records, cycling, walking and sport in general have always been close to Boardman’s heart:

“Cycling and walking are wonderfully simple ways to reduce carbon and improve safety and health, with the power to change the world if we create an environment where people feel able to go to the shops, school and workplace independently.

“At SportAccord, we will look closely at our successful initiatives to get more people walking and cycling, and making sport and physical activity a normal part of everyday life. 

“We will explore what’s worked, what hasn’t - and the importance of political will at the city level, as well as what cities can learn from each other.”

‘Blue’ sky the limit

When Tom Wagner, co-founder of Knighthood Capital and his partner, NFL legend Tom Brady, bought a controlling stake in Birmingham City Football Club in 2023, they did this as part of a broader city transformation project.

At SportAccord, Wagner - who with Brady is now Chair of the Board of Birmingham City Football Club - will explain why ‘blue’ sky is the limit, and not just for the club.

“We invested in Blues because of the opportunity to not only transform a football club, but to be a catalyst for a change in the city itself,” said Wagner.

“At SportAccord, we’ll be talking about the lure of a club in the heart of Birmingham and why this is the start of a new era for Birmingham’s city centre.”

CityAccord closes with two must-attend roundtables covering ‘festivalisation’ and future proofing - we look forward to meeting you there!

‘More than just sport'

Are you focusing on how best to unite your city’s residents and visitors through collective experiences in art, live music and interactive events - or looking for inspiration on how to inject that ‘festival’ feeling into business and more traditional events in your city?

Join us at the CityAccord roundtable “Just how far can ‘Festivalisation’ can go” with Ben Avison - Editorial and Conference Director of Host City, Georg Spazier - CEO of innsbruck-tirols sports GmbH and Innsbruck World Masters Games, Nicola Turner MBE - CEO of United By 2022 and Alana Vought - Program Manager of Olympic and Paralympic Games Brisbane 2032, City of Gold Coast.

Do you have a stake in new event models, which span regions or even continents - creating an increasingly challenging environment for host cities, regional and national governments?

Join us at CityAccord’s “The Road Ahead Across Continents” roundtable with Esther Britten - Head of Major Events at UK Sport, James Bulley - CEO of Trivandi, Perttu Pesa - Chair of International Association of Event Hosts and Katie Sadleir - CEO of Commonwealth Games Federation with moderator Susan Sawbridge - Managing Partner of Daylight.

SportAccord 2024 - join world’s leading sports industry experts

Meet renowned global experts in sport, industry and academia and join over 1,500 delegates and exhibitors at SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit on 7-11 April at the award-winning International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham - West Midlands.

Register now:  https://register.event-works.com/sportaccord/birmingham2024/e/ce/

Partners

The SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit 2024 is supported by a number of strong partners and suppliers:

Gold Partner: Sport Event Denmark

Silver Partners: EventScotland, Explore Edmonton, Tourism & Events Queensland

Bronze Partner: Sport Liverpool , Sports Authority Thailand

Official Suppliers: DB Schenker, Wiz-Team

About SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit 

The SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit brings together around 1,500 leaders and key decision makers from over 120 International Federations (IFs), the International Olympic Committee, and organisations involved in the business of sport. 

The Summit provides an unrivalled platform enabling global business leaders and host cities to have access to all the International Federations and their stakeholders in one location over several days. 

This unique event is a combination of official sports meetings, networking gatherings, a themed conference programme, and exhibition space enabling International Federations, industry, cities and regions to showcase and advance their sport, services and facilities. 

About SPORTACCORD

SportAccord is a sports event organisation based in the Olympic Capital, Lausanne, Switzerland, and governed by stakeholders representing the Olympic and non-Olympic International Federations.  

It brings together International Federations and organisations involved in the business of sport with the aim to serve, promote and protect the common interests of its stakeholders, help them achieve their global objectives and facilitate knowledge-sharing.

SportAccord’s stakeholders include:

ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations)

WOF (Winter Olympic Federations)

ARISF (Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations)

AIMS (Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport)

Visit SportAccord.sport for more information.

About Yutang Sports

As one of SportAccord's Principal Media Partners, Yutang Sports is a Chinese leading sports marketing and media platform, with an ultimate mission to connect China and world through sports. After years of growing, Yutang Sports, with a comprehensive media and marketing promotion system, is now dedicating to reporting sports business and marketing trends, providing sports business news, analysis, and exclusive data reports in both Chinese and English. Having been cooperated with top-level domestic and international sports summits, Yutang Sports is opening a window for Chinese sports industry to embrace the world.