RedBird Capital have shown their determination to make AC Milan a media enterprise in addition to a football club since taking over, and their latest idea pertains to image rights.
La Gazzetta dello Sport begin a report by stating that the capsule collection dedicated to Rafael Leao was a success. The baseball-style jerseys, oversized t-shirts and sweatshirts were all produced with a streetwear vibe to appeal to new generations.
From a commercial point of view, Leao sold the license to Milan, receiving in exchange a percentage of the sales. In the future the Rossoneri could make this type of partnership structural. Inside the club, the leaders are starting to think about the possibility of including image rights in the contracts of footballers, at least those who have a certain appeal off the pitch.
Milan, like almost all clubs, always keep the commercial exploitation of the athlete out of the contracts that regulate the employment relationship (as an employee). Image rights are usually retained by the athlete who uses them independently.
This is due to the agreement stipulated in 1981 between the FIGC, the Leagues and the AIC which, in article 1, states: ‘Footballers are recognized as having the right to use their image in any lawful and decent form, including for direct or indirect profit-making purposes, provided that it is not associated with the names, colours, shirts, symbols or insignia of the club to which it belongs or of other clubs of the National League or National League Serie C, and provided that it does not take place during official football activities’.
The club, for its part, has the right to exploit the image of its players in a ‘team’ context, with the simultaneous presence of at least four other players. It is possible to include clauses in contracts to regulate the exploitation of the player’s image in a different way.
In the case of complete transfer of image rights by the athlete, we speak of blanket contracts – i.e. ‘naked contracts’ – because the player strips himself of all rights by transferring everything to the club he belongs to.
In Italy, Napoli use this type of contract. Milan could follow the same path, or they could choose something in between. For a few months, in fact, some Rossoneri directors have started studying what at the moment is only a working draft: inserting image rights into the contracts and, therefore, negotiating a fee for the transfer of them with the players, in whole or in part.
This is a factor which would make the relationship between employer and ‘work provider’ more composite and which would change the face of market negotiations. It would be another evolution of an increasingly American-style Milan, which in Gerry Cardinale’s plans will be more immersed in the world of entertainment.
They will do anything to make money Redbird/Elliott #out
You’re right. An ambitious club should always be millions in debt… What are these crazy Americans thinking?
It’s better to be in debt rather than be midtable team can you name club that’s not in debt
That’s not a bad thing.
That’s what we want. Are you mentally disabled?
The Berlusconi Era ended a long time ago. He couldn’t turn the club into a viable business despite all the success on the field, so the new owners have to.
So how club pay for top player / top coach without making the money ? Fans like you always asking for star player, big name coach using owner money. You dont know most of club now using self refinancing ?? Even Real madrid the most successful club in europe use self refinancing style. Only stupid fans still believe in 2024 that rich owner can use his/her money to fund the club like luxurious toys
Star players will not accept to have their image rights be owned by a club. Usually players with that brand power coming to a team, affiliated sponsors agree to pay to have that player come to the team by covering wages and offering deals that make up for the increased expenditures of acquiring the player because it increases their visibility. Fly Emirates, Puma, etc would love to see Mbappé for example, with their logo on his body while he lifts a trophy in Serie A. Especially that he is contracted to a rival brand. That would motivate then to aid in getting a player who owns his image rights to a club without having to forsake them. We won’t sign Mbappé, but it is an example of how you fund those moves. Players of that magnitude sell merchandise that covers their a considerable portion of their yearly wages in spades often.
What ever Madrid is doing are good because they are buying quality players not cheap quantities like we do,stupid person mention club like Madrid while we are talking stingy people like Redbird/Elliott
Yeah these imbeciles working overtime to find stupid ideas. Brace yourself for Miley Cyrus at right back and Mickey Mouse at defensive midfielder. Vergogna…
Napoli does that to their player contracts. They own their players image rights. It helps them to monetize their brand
No doubt a good idea and also something that so many sports entities are practicing
Find more ways to be greedy and alienate players who will have options to retain their image rights at other clubs. These people have the uncanny ability to sh%0t themselves in the foot. No wonder Maldini and Massara clashed, butt heads with these turd for brains.
Completely out of their depths.
Then fans here, love to blame our players for leaving on frees when these bankers have time and time again shown no reserve by lowballing as well as undermining our club, the fans, our players and reputation. We really landed on some of the most out of depth and narrow minded tools you could ask for.
Go point to our additional revenues as if it is something great they accomplished. Had we kept our best players, by spending fair value to retain them, we would have at least one more scudetto and performed even better in Europe. That would have given even more leverage, brand power and more generous commercial opportunities. The money spent on maintaining excellence would come back into the club with our brand power. People forget The Murcicans already had Kessie, Romagnoli and other fantastic centerpieces to build on, as well as other assets they cashed in on from our previous owners. That part seems to be so conveniently omitted. Our team was in a bad financial position but we had assets to recover a lot of those losses. Without our best players leaving. So they completely f’d the dog after the scudetto.
The reality is Milan had a strong season. Give Inter credit, 94 points there was no stopping them. And their owners went bankrupt and lost the club in the process. Milan is in fantastic shape financially, growing in revenue, the club has made the biggest jump in valuation over the last 3 years of any club in Europe. More commercial opportunities helps the club grow in stature as well as revenue. And with FFP you can’t just endlessly spend without a strong base, look what happened to Barcelona.