On 7 November 2013, Michael Pedersen spoke at the University of Nuevo León (UANL) in Monterrey, Mexico in the context of two combined congresses; the XXI International Congress of the Faculty of Sport Management at UANL and the I Congress of the Latin American Science Association of Sport, Physical Education and Dance. The congresses brought together approximately 1,300 participants for three days of engagement related to the topic of sport management. A substantial number of additional people followed the congresses through live streaming on the Internet.

In his speech, Michael Pedersen first and foremost offered his perspectives on what sport governance is all about and why it is of key strategic importance. Michael highlighted that it is useful to consider governance in a holistic way to properly address risk and opportunities, i.e. along the lines of four governance areas; internal governance, athletic governance, event governance and ‘sport in society’ governance. Furthermore, from a strategic perspective, he emphasized that good governance standards create the foundation for the future development of sport, inasmuch as they build 1) trust by enabling strong relationships with key stakeholders of sport, 2) growth by facilitating increased participation and increased revenues and 3) performance by attracting and retaining people fit for the job, motivated and supported to perform to their full ability.

Michael Pedersen also shared selected cases of evolving good practice from across the world, at a national level as well as at an international level. Finally, with the kind support from a group of participants in the combined congresses, Michael demonstrated a practical workshop case from one of his sport governance projects. The case evolved around a scenario to create a future vision for good management practices in a national sport federation.

A video of Michael Pedersen’s speech is available upon request.