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In order to attract and win over people traditionally excluded from the political debate, local representatives try to involve more effectively these people through new communication means and original exchange forms. Through two local case studies carried out in Alsace, this article describes and then deconstructs the elements of the public debate about sport, related to participatory democracy in the local community.Beyond the official discourse of local representatives, this process of communication targets “sympathetic” social groups instead of attempting to engender a contradictory and innovative debate. Looking together at the rhetoric of participatory democracy with some of the properties of the agents involved as well as the characteristics of the cities, this research brings to light some sociological conditions which explain the form taken by the debate on local sport. The output of this achieved consensus is an increased legitimacy for local authorities.