Gerry Cardinale has been on a media run in the last few weeks, interviewed by various outlets, and another one dropped today. The AC Milan owner confirmed that he’s willing to give up a minority share of the club amid Middle East interest.
In an interview with Calcio e Finanza, Cardinale opened up about all things Milan. He was asked about the stadium project in San Donato, giving up shares of Milan and the Super League. As we revealed on Substack back in December, he’s indeed considering a minority partner.
On his background…
“I have 25 years of experience in sports investment, both creating companies in partnership with the best rights holders in the world, and investing in teams and the leagues themselves. I have always believed that investments must be guided by cash generation and not simply turnover, as well as by non-emotional considerations.
“However, I must say that the only case in which I occasionally lose this approach is with Milan, where the passion of the fans and the importance of the team for everyone is something I had never experienced in sport before.”
On the vendor loan…
“I worked for 20 years at Goldman Sachs, I smile when some people think I’m so naive as to take on a debt to be repaid in just 18 months.”
On a potential sale…
“I’m here to stay for a long time and if it were up to me, I would stay here forever. What is true, however, is that the movements of the global economy must be taken into account and there is no doubt that in the Middle East, there is a lot of liquidity and willingness to invest in sport.
“Right now, there is a lot of capital in the Middle East and we are open to collaborating with potential partners who could join us both as sponsors and as partners in the construction of the new stadium, or as minority shareholders as true value-added partners, but as I said I will not give up control.”
On sharing a stadium with Inter…
“I’m totally ready to build the Milan stadium on my own, but I’m also open to evaluating other options, without excluding a potential collaboration with Inter ”, believing that the progress of Inter, Milan and Juventus, the leading group of Italian football, each driven by a strong and stable ownership, respond to the interest of the entire national football movement.
On the league…
“I believe I can make Milan the number one club and at the same time, help Serie A become competitive again. Also because in current conditions the only way to steadily push a club to the highest levels is to belong to a league with a strong system.
“Consider, for example, that between the Premier League and Serie A there is a difference of 5 to 1 in terms of revenues from television rights. And narrowing this gap is the way for our league to regain the competitiveness of the golden years at the European level.”
On the Super League…
“I believe that we should operate within the framework of UEFA and the ECA (the European Club Association), which best serve the interests of football in Europe. The Super League, whatever its current form, is not something we think is right for Milan, Serie A or European football,” he stated.
It remains to be seen what will happen on the stadium front, but Milan have taken important steps forward in San Donato. There was also a meeting recently with the Milano council to discuss the San Siro area, but this hypothesis seems very remote for the time being.
In any case, Cardinale is looking to strengthen Milan’s financial situation with investments from the Middle East, but he’s not willing to sell the club. He has started a mission and wants to finish it.
So he says the league is behind epl in terms of revenue nothing new there then and that the only way to compete is to steadily introduce income ok what about PSG they don’t have mega money from tv or fans didn’t and will not stop them from spending over a billion on elite players sky rocketing there profile around the globe .
Now I’m not saying spend as much as PSG but atleast be honest we could and should buy a higher calibre of player also a higher calibre of coach without thinking over and over about the budget thus improvement on Ac milan also the league.
PSG is owned by oil money with over-inflated oil money owned sponsorships…. That’s why on paper they show higher incomes so FFP is more flexible. They won’t run out of money any time soon.
Milan isn’t owned by money and can’t justify this sort of expenditures. And the league as a whole is run by dinosaurs, so it doesn’t appear as lucrative for foreign investment as a whole. Which is why Gerry points out the importance of strengthening the league.
And lastly, PSG have spent on this money and still can’t buy their way into a European title… So there.
Forget it buddy,
Jack Russell knows absolutely nothing about economics.
Yeah PSG have bogus sponsorships from companies owned by their Qatari overlords.
Not the same situation.
Please leave… please just sell it all.
Not before he completed a 70k+ stadium for AC Milan (and not for inter).
PSG had been posting loses for years. They’ve had trouble with FFP and have had to let players go. They have Qatar backing which covered loses when they were losing money. Some of the players they picked up were free transfers and they’ll make money selling Mbappe, but PSG is not a good model to follow. Maybe Milan can get sponsorship deals with Qatar Air and Qatar Tourism Board or the Qatar bus routes like Man City.
Unlike Milan, clubs like PSG and Man City are state-owned so they have essentially inflated their real revenue with phony sponsorship deals that have allowed them to dodge FF restrictions. This has only happened, mind you, because UEFA willingly looks the other way.
Exactly, Milan tried the psg strategy without the power of a petrostate behind them and got a two season European ban
^100%
I don’t get why some people are so opposed to Cardinale’s ownership.
He’s clearly committed long term and is executing a sustainable financial strategy.
In order to succeed long-term we need to be stable financially while increasing revenue streams over time (like owning our own stadium for example)
The “spend 200 mil every summer” “oh-my-moneyball” crowd needs to put their feet back on the ground.
“…investments must be guided by cash generation and not simply turnover, as well as by non-emotional considerations”
So basically, he wouldn’t think twice about selling anything dear to the fanbase like fav players etc.
“On the vendor loan…
“I worked for 20 years at Goldman Sachs, I smile when some people think I’m so naive as to take on a debt to be repaid in just 18 months.”
Ok boss. As long you know what you’re doing. The credibility/experience is there though, I’ll give him that. But they did ask him whether he’s looking to sell a piece of Milan to the middle East before and his reply was quite different ie he does other work there 🤔js
He may think twice if it is Milan:
“However, I must say that the only case in which I occasionally lose this approach is with Milan, where the passion of the fans and the importance of the team for everyone is something I had never experienced in sport before.”
Well it was Furlani who advised Maldini that he would have very little to spend just before the season end last year and we all know most of Milans investments came as a result of Tonali’s sale last year so it seems our budgets for new players are around
25-30 million a year unless a big sale happens or a truck load of players get sold. So not sure with a budget so low how we are going to compete with the elite….?