The management of Small Sport clubs

The objective of this paper is to identify the combination of factors that would make small and nonprofessional sports clubs economically and financially viable, despite low revenues and a limited attractiveness to the general public. In this regard, an analysis has been conducted on a sample of 200 clay shooting clubs in Italy. Results show that the main factors that positively affect performance are those most directly related to the core practice, as well as facilities/services supporting practitioners. This research adds to the sport management literature in two ways. First, it provides an indepth analysis of the connection between infrastructure and organizational features of sports clubs. Second, this research highlights which facilities, services and initiatives can be adopted in order to increase financial and organizational performance of small sport clubs and, consequently, provide a higher attractiveness to practitioners.