Starting in June, sporting events held in Italy have tried to walk the delicate line between ensuring the safety of those involved and making the events appear as normal as possible.

June was when the country's Serie A football season -- which had been halted in March when COVID-19 first started to spread in Italy -- restarted, albeit with strict health protocols in force including prohibiting fans in the stands.

The season is complete, with the next Serie A campaign set to begin on September 19. But a growing number of infections -- so far teams from Cagliari, Rome, Naples, and Turin have reported cases among their number -- may cast doubt upon the start date of the 2020-21 season.

"We are worried, we can't deny that," Gianni Nanni, the main representative for Serie A team doctors, told reporters recently. "If the number of cases increases further, the postponement of the start of the championship would become a very concrete possibility."

The financial impact of the stop-start season is hard to calculate, though there are some signals of the size of the financial impact. According to data firm Statista, the combined stock market value of the 20 Serie A teams declined by nearly 800 million euros (960 million U.S. dollars) between April 1 and August 15, covering the bulk of the COVID-19 crisis. A single team, Juventus, saw its value drop by 140 million euros (165 million U.S. dollars) over the same span. Inter Milan, owned by China's Suning Holdings, saw its value drop 132 million euros (155 million U.S. dollars).

The Gazetta dello Sport newspaper estimated earlier this month that the league's main revenue streams could be cut in half for this season. If true, that would be a significant amount: according to the 2020 Annual Review of Football Finance from consulting firm Deloitte released in June, Serie A earned a total of 2.1 billion euros (2.5 billion U.S. dollars) last season, with around 60 percent from broadcasting rights, 30 percent from sponsorships and commercial revenue, and 10 percent from ticket sales.

Italy's other major sports, ranging from professional cycling and Formula One motor racing to tennis and basketball, are on a similar tightrope.

The Giro d'Italia bicycle race, one of the world's three main multi-week road bike races, normally takes place in spring or early summer, when it sets the stage for the Tour de France and the Vuelta de Espana. But this year, because of the pandemic, the 103rd edition of the race originally scheduled to take place from May 9 to 31 has been pushed back to October 3-25, with the 3,500-kilometer (2,200-mile) course recalibrated to avoid high mountain peaks that could be snow-covered in October.

As of August, plans are to move forward with the race on the new schedule. But it is unclear whether organizers will allow fans to line the course as normal, and are waiting to see the development of the pandemic before making that call. A decision is expected by mid-September.

Formula 1's Italian Grand Prix will take place in the northern city of Monza on September 6, and organizers have already decided it will take place without fans in the stands. But in an unusual move, organizers will allow fans to pay 40 euros (47 U.S. dollars) to have their image printed up to appear in the stands, visible on television coverage of the race. Money raised from the initiative will be donated to COVID-19 research programs in Monza, Milan, and Rome.

Like the Giro d'Italia, the Italian Open, Italy's premier tennis event, was pushed back from its original home on the calendar in May. This year, the clay-court event will start on September 14, four months later than normal. It is filling the dates originally scheduled for Spain's Madrid Open, which was canceled because of the outbreak in the country. Organizers of the Italian event said they are taking every precaution possible to make sure the tournament can take place, including eliminating crowds and applying social distancing rules in the clubhouse.

Last year's event raised around 11.5 million euros (13.7 million U.S. dollars) in ticket sales, according to the Deloitte report, a category that will produce no revenue this year.

In an optimistic gesture, organizers of the Italian Open already announced the 2021 tournament will start on May 9, its traditional slot on the calendar, assuming the pandemic is no longer a threat by that point.

Italy's top professional basketball league concluded its 2019-20 season in February, just before the pandemic forced a national lockdown. The 2020-21 season is set to get underway on September 27, more or less on schedule. But organizers said they are keeping close track of the spread of the outbreak in Italy, and could delay the start and compress the season if needed.

The article in La Gazetta dello Sport said that the full impact of the outbreak will not be known until next year, when lost sponsorship revenue, merchandise sales, and other factors are fully known.

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