The development of local sports projects in communities, which is now widespread, corresponds to the desire to change the frameworks of public action. Based on the philosophy of participatory democracy, these projects aim to adapt more closely to social expectations in sports. Through the specific case of the city of Brest (France), where this intention has been materialized since 2010 with the construction of a territorial sports project, we question the roots of this development. We show in particular that adhering to this specific approach appears to be an ambivalent but nevertheless structuring process for the local sports ecosystem.