ITALY: Dichotomies Between Professionalism vs. Voluntarism and Commercialisation vs. Non-profit in the Sport Sector

This article is intended to deal with the main aspects related to the Italian sport system, supported by the available data, which will provide an understanding of the private sport sector’s dimensions and peculiarities, both from the structural and economic perspectives. Italy has a peculiar organisation of the sport system: the distinctive role played by the Italian National Olympic Committee along with the unique features of some of the actors operating in the system — such as the Sport Promotion Bodies (Enti di Promozione Sportiva), one of the most innovative experiences of sport for all organisations in Europe — has determined an almost unique form of organisation that represents an interesting area of investigation. Until recently, rigorous analyses of the Italian sport sector have been rare: although there is no question about the importance of profit making sport actors, this sector has received less attention in the sport-related research, especially with approaches that are sociological in nature. The article intends to fill this gap by combining a quantitative approach – with the quantification of the of the private sport activity by number of business, employees, beneficiaries, etc. – with a qualitative approach that seeks to understand the influence of the specific features of the Italian system on the private sport sector, and aims to anticipate future trends and directions.