Fiorentina owner Rocco Commisso has used AC Milan as a comparison when explaining why Fiorentina cannot break into the elite in Serie A or Europe.
Speaking at an event at the University of Florence (reported by FirenzeViola.it), Commisso was talking about the money that he has pumped into the club and the debt that he has taken away compared to when he purchased Fiorentina.
He started by explaining how there are too many monuments in Italy to protect, implying that people are not willing to let go of old stadiums that are limiting clubs.
“In the Covid years we had no revenue from the stadium. However, Italy is not growing like England, Spain and the others with revenues, especially from television. The problem here in Italy, hoping no one will be offended, is that there are too many monuments,” Commisso said.
“All beautiful, but they also want to make the stadium a monument. I’ve said it before, certain things need to be redone. They wouldn’t let me do the stadium here. It’s a shame, because if I had started when I wanted to, it would almost be finished today. The stadium in other countries is lived in seven days a week, not like here.”
He then began talking about how hard it is to make money when owning a football club in comparison to other sports or even just big clubs within the same sport. That is where the comparison with Milan came and the money they make in the Champions League.
“I want to raise revenue. If you go to a game at Yankees stadium with a family of four the total cost will be about a thousand dollars. We get €250,000 a year for twenty games from the corners,” he explained.
“You understand the difference between us and other sports. The other day AC Milan made €9 million from a Champions League match, we make about €8-9 million a year from ticket sales. How can we compete like that? I hope you understand what I’m saying.”
