The second session of the Executive Master in European Sport Governance (MESGO), focusing on sports organisations and their governance, took place from 12 to 16 November in Switzerland, at the headquarters of various prestigious international organisations.

During the week, the debates focused on the governance of national and international sports organisations, with case studies dedicated to the European Golf Tour (PGA Europe), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the International Fencing Federation (FIE), the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), UEFA and the International Cycling Union (UCI). Other presentations focused on corporate governance issues, the specificity of Swiss law with regards to associations, stakeholder representation and the role of professional leagues. Finally, a comparison with the sector of humanitarian NGOs was made, through an in-depth study of the governance of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Daily gatherings took place in Lausanne (at the maison du sport international and the FEI), Nyon (at UEFA) and Geneva (at the ICRC).

The 20 MESGO participants also took up the entertaining opportunity of a football match against UEFA staff and of a cooking workshop.

The next session will take place in London in January 2013 and will be dedicated to the governance and regulation of sporting competitions.

The MESGO is a unique programme for decision makers coming from the European sport movement (federations, media, sponsors, public actors). Launched by five universities internationally recognised in the field of sport governance, the MESGO welcomed in September its second cohort in Paris.

The twenty participants, managers and executives coming from all over Europe (Russia, Spain, Italy, Macedonia, Lithuania, Denmark, etc.) and from Qatar, will benefit from nine one-week sessions and cover the main stakes that the sport industry faces nowadays: ethics, marketing, European legal framework, sports events, etc. A session in New York City will also allow the participants to make comparisons with the North American model where governance emerged in a very different context and history. The first session, organised in prestigious venues (Sciences Po, Roland Garros, the French Football Federation and the French national olympic committee – CNOSF) fulfilled three objectives:

– to give an overview of the international sports environment at institutional, legal and economic levels;

– to show that the established worldwide and pyramidal organisation of sport, and some of its characteristics, make it a rather special economic “product”;

– to take a more focused look at the European sports model and consider, specifically, the governance of sport.

Speakers included the UEFA General Secretary, Gianni Infantino, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) President, René Fasel, the FIFA Secretary General, Jerome Valcke and Maurizio Gherardini, Vice President of basketball operations of the Toronto Raptors (NBA).

To celebrate this launching, a gala dinner was organised in the grand 18th century setting of la Maison de l’Amérique Latine. This event gathered participants of the past and the current cohort, along with prestigious guests such as presidents of European sport federations, former ministers and representatives of sports organisations.