The Italian Tennis Federation FIT chose X.ITE, the LUISS research center on behavior and technology, to measure and analyze the growth and development of tennis in Italy.
On Sunday, September 11, 2016, X.ITE presented their results to the 58th FIT Federal Assembly, focusing on the power of communication and the role of the SuperTennis channel in amplifying athletic success (especially for female athletes) and regenerating the country’s passion for tennis, visible in the increase of amateur players and general participation around the sport. Increased interest has also had economic effects, as demonstrated by the revenue of the Internazionali BNL d’ Italia.
Through their research, LUISS Professors Matteo De Angelis and Michele Costabile, respectively the director of the research project and the director of X.ITE, have matured a deep understanding of the complex dynamics that explain the development of sports and tennis.
“Successes like those of tennis in Italy are certainly not possible to explain with reductionist approaches,” explain the professors. “It’s important to adopt meticulous models that allow us to isolate essential causes and effects. Phenomena such as multicollinearity (the convergence, interaction and contextualization of multiple causes on the same effect) are increasingly difficult to measure. However, in the everyday life of managers and policy makers, it is essential to have evidence and numbers on dynamics and causality.”
“For these reasons, the managerial culture and behavior at FIT have been commendable. The results brought forward by President Angelo Binaghi and his staff speak for themselves and we are proud to have worked alongside them,” conclude the X.ITE researchers. “The new challenge is to blow up technology related to digital and social communication to make the FIT communication ecosystem even more articulated and integrated while generating economic and social value, with that extraordinary mix that only well-managed sport and culture can offer. Especially in countries like Italy.”