The influence of public funding on the strategies and performance of non-profit basketball clubs from SouthEastern Europe

The purpose of this study is to examine how private funding affects non-profit sport clubs in terms of their strategic decisions and organisational performance. Data for the study were collected from a survey of 73 basketball clubs’ managers from four Southeast European countries. Explorative factor analysis and structural equation modelling were employed. The results show that stronger influence of public institutions, reflected in a higher proportion of clubs’ funding from public resources, affects clubs’ strategies so that clubs with a greater percentage of public funds: (1) emphasise risk reduction more than fast results; (2) emphasise local community aims more than top sport results; and (3) emphasise organisational growth more than cost reduction. The study empirically verified the thesis that clubs with a larger proportion of public funds are less successful in terms of sport and financial results, which is partially a consequence of their different strategic focus. The study offers a better understanding of the relationships among the structure of clubs’ funding and its direct (clubs’ strategic conduct) and indirect (clubs’ performance) consequences