The dire financial situation that Serie A and Italian football finds itself in has been laid bare in a worrying report, but it is one that demonstrates the importance of AC Milan’s path.
A report from Calcio e Finanza (via footitalia) writes – citing Football Report – that Italian football suffered losses of €1.4bn in 2021-22 and has thus accrued debts of €5.6bn, with the aggregate loss over the last 15 years amounting to €7.7bn.
The overall loss of the Serie A, Serie B and Serie C championships in the three-year period COVID-19 (2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22) was equal to almost €3.6bn.
Looking at just Serie A alone, in 2021-22 season the league recorded a production value of just under €3bn, a decrease of 6.5% compared to 2020-21, a season strongly influenced by higher revenues deriving from television rights and commercial activities.
Revenues from stadium admissions saw a recovery during 2021-22 and stood at €218m, an increase of €196.9m compared to 2020-21, a season that was played behind closed doors or with restricted admissions for almost all the season.
The increase in ticketing revenues is partially offset by the reduction in revenues related to television and radio rights, which in 2021-22 reached €1.2bn (-28.9%), mainly considering what was described at the beginning of section and the decrease recorded in the value of TV rights contracts for the period 2021-24.
The proceeds generated by capital gains and loan transfers of players recorded an increase of €132.5m in 2021-22 (+32.4%), but are still far from the results generated before the pandemic, when such revenues amounted to €835m.
Serie A in 2021-22 presents a negative net result exceeding €1bn, with a slight improvement compared to the loss recorded in the 2020-21 season, which amounted to €1.1bn (+9.8%).
At the balance sheet level, there was once again an increase in debt, which reached a value of €4.9bn (+1.1%) and in parallel there was a decrease in shareholders’ equity (-24.1%), in contrast with the last years mainly due to particularly substantial operating losses generated by some clubs.
Meanwhile, Milan have been trend setters in Serie A under Elliott Management and now RedBird Capital, clearing their debts and controlling expenses to the extent a profit for the current financial year is predicted.
