This year’s conference will be held in parallel with the Pan-American Games. Often, “America” is taken to mean the United States, to the neglect of the other countries represented at the games. Accordingly, in addition to the general, international themes for the conference, this year’s area of special focus relates to the rise and development of sport in the Americas, with a particular focus on the Caribbean states, South America, and Central America. This is an under-researched area, which deserves deeper investigation. The Pan-American Games are in Toronto at the same time as the Sport and Society Conference, bringing people from the whole of the Americas to a single event. This provides an opportunity to open up to the rest of the academic world to the vast array of research that is being undertaken by scholars of sport in the Caribbean, South America, and Central America. What follows are some of the ideas and areas we would like to promote at the conference.