November 2015, New York City
Along with Richard Pound and the former New York City Sports Commissioner, change agent, integrity coach and street volunteer Michael Pedersen spoke in the panel, titled “Bringing Accountability Back to Sport: The Role of Government and Governing Bodies” held several weeks ago.
Here is an excerpt of what transpired during the event:
Michael Pedersen spoke at Securing Sport 2015, which took place at Harold Pratt House in New York City, USA on 3-4 November 2015. Convened by International Center for Sport Security, the event brought together approximately 250 sport leaders and sport stakeholders and experts from around the world.
Keynote speakers at the event included:
- William Bratton, Police Commissioner, New York City
- Francois Carrard, Chairman, 2016 FIFA Reform Committee
- Sunil Gulati, President, US Soccer
- Richard Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations
- Michael Hershman, Co-Founder, Transparency International
- Mohammed Hanzab, President, International Center for Sport Security
- Professor Ricardo Hausmann, Harvard University
- Eric Holder, Former U.S. Attorney General
- Cobi Jones, Former Soccer Player, Los Angeles Galaxy
- Condoleezza Rice, 66th U.S. Secretary of State
- Tokyo Sexwale, FIFA Presidential Candidate
In the context of a panel, titled “Bringing Accountability Back to Sport: The Role of Government and Governing Bodies”, Michael Pedersen offered his perspectives on some key aspects to be considered in modernizing sport governance standards. Rob Simmelkjaer, NBC Sports and MSNBC On-Air Contributor, moderated the panel. Richard Pound, Founding President, World Anti-Doping Agency and Mike Hopper, former Vice President, Sports and Municipal Marketing, NYC & Company contributed as panelists too.
During the panel discussion, Michael Pedersen emphasized that national and international sport governing bodies as well as athletes are first in line to safeguard the integrity of sport. He added that governments too ought to take an active role in ensuring high levels of trust in sport, given all the positive societal benefits of a physically active population and the pressure to showcase that public funding of sport is spent effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, Michael Pedersen highlighted that sponsors, media broadcasters and sport betting operators also ought to actively engage in safeguarding sport integrity, appreciating that eventually their significant investments in sport and their overall business reputation are at stake.
You may read the full updates about 2015 Securing Sport here.