Sports Entrepreneurship and Crowdfunding in Local Communities: The Role of Social Media

Sport is a phenomenon with evident socioeconomic implications. Sports clubs are vital for the local communities by bringing people together and providing opportunities for social interaction. However, economic recession caused particular funding problems, especially to self-funded sports clubs and individual athletes, when it comes to the depletion of their financial resources. However, the combination of digital tools and emerging forms of financing have contributed with solutions to amateur and semi-professional sports clubs, as well as to athletes competing at an individual level. Crowdfunding campaigns effectively benefit self-funded clubs, while the communication strategies through social media activate local communities, which come together to support local sports clubs. The purpose of this paper is to highlight all these elements through the case of Chios Nautical Club, which constitutes the sports emblem of Chios Island since the men’s water polo team has been participating for more than four decades in the first division of this sport. With the slogan “One Team, One Island”, Chios Nautical Club managed to raise a significant amount of money in a short period of time through a crowdfunding campaign by (a) using an online fundraising platform, (b) motivating the local community to join its effort through its social media and (c) offering a variety of donor incentives, prizes and rewards.