The Serie A of Italian basketball helps the growth of the Italian system. This is certified by a study carried out by StageUp for the Lega Basket, which brings together the 16 clubs of the top professional league.
The 2023/24 basketball championship won by Olimpia Milano, and the related events organized by LBA and its associated companies, they created a boost to the Italian economy of 656.9 million euros. The calculation, which includes direct, indirect and related returns, is based first of all on returns for fans and followers.
The «business to consumer» sector, between ticketing, catering, merchandising, streaming subscription services and betting, has generated an impact of 189.4 million euros. The part «business to business»linked to the marketing of opportunities for businesses — sponsorships, TV rights and other services for companies — generated 95 million.
The fraction of the indirect impact, linked to the sports halls and the shows connected to the matches, and induced, connected to the income of the workers involved, contributes to the missing part to arrive at the overall figure of 656.9 million. Which only calculates the economic return, without taking into account the communication returns on the territory of a sport whose top realities are controlled by big names in Italian business. Just think of Giorgio Armani, Massimo Zanetti, Beniamino Gavio and Luigi Brugnaroowners or majority shareholders respectively of Olimpia Milano, Virtus Bologna, Tortona and Venezia.
«Basketball has always had an important role in the Italian economy: it was the first sport to introduce team sponsorships – explains the president of Lega Basket Umberto Gandini –—. After Covid, spectators increased, reaching record turnout which hadn’t been seen since the 90s.”
The manager from Varese indicates the next step linked to penalizing sports facilitiestrusting in the new Citadel of Sport in Tortona and in the new facility in Bologna: «To consolidate development, it is necessary to concretely address the problem of the facilities, the inadequacy of which risks becoming a brake on further growth of Italian basketball».
