ABSTRACT
Sports clubs are one of the most important elements in the sports systems of today’s societies. In the field of sport, a sports club aims, among other things, to make sport more affordable and accessible to all, showing the organisational characteristics of companies, but with a much broader social mission. The aim of this chapter is to characterise sports clubs as potentially favourable environments for sports entrepreneurship, making questions about their nature and purposes. Aspects such as the hybridisation of organisations, the progressive professionalisation of their members, the use of the entrepreneurial spirit as an instrument to facilitate the achievement of the organisation’s objectives or the need to seek alternative sources of funding to traditional public aid are discussed in the context of increasingly hostile and competitive environments, where social organisations must seek out resources in a similar way to companies.
