The AC Milan leadership are hard at work planning for the future with the aim of growing the club’s brand even more, according to a report.
As reported this morning by Tuttosport (via MilanNews), the last four years with Elliott Management as the owners and CEO Ivan Gazidis at the helm has seen Milan recover from an economic point of view and rediscover a financial stability that has been missing for some time.
It was no coincidence that in conjunction with this financial equilibrium, the Rossoneri also returned to the top in terms of sporting level too, having won the Scudetto back in May and having reached the Champions League knockout stages too.
The main aim for the new owner Gerry Cardinale (of RedBird) and the new CEO Giorgio Furlani is to take this economic stability to the next level, to ensure that the 500million Rossoneri fans around the world do not feel distant, with targeted strategies for each area and even each supporter.
This means being a media and entertainment company – something Cardinale very much knows the meaning of – which subsequently means increasing revenues to reinvest and thus increase the chances of success on the pitch. A virtuous circle, therefore.
The principal challenge facing AC Milan and other continental clubs in Europe at present is how to eliminate the massive disparity in TV broadcasting revenues between continental leagues and the EPL. This inequality is the reason why EPL clubs have come to economically dominate the sport in Europe, reducing most continental clubs to the subordinate status of feeders in the food chain. There doesn’t appear to be a long-term solution to this problem other than to form a merit-based, multi-divisional, Pan-European league competition to replace the existing domestic leagues. In this way Europe will be able more effectively to project itself to the world, as the EPL has done. When top European clubs such as AC Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico, PSG, Bayern, Porto, Benfica, Ajax, Inter, and Juventus regularly play each other (i.e. at least twice a season in a league competition), they’re going to generate much better TV broadcasting deals. English clubs can be invited to join the new European League, but their involvement, whilst desirable, isn’t essential. The European League must be merit-based – unlike the defunct Super League concept; that is, a club must earn the right to compete in its first division through their results each season – no club should be guaranteed a place. If a club doesn’t perform, it gets relegated to the second division. The formation of a European League is the next historic step in the evolution of football on the continent, and RedBird need to lead efforts to make it happen. AC Milan’s ability to compete successfully on the pitch at the highest levels in Europe hinges on it. Otherwise it will likely always have to sell its best players to EPL clubs, and the Rossoneri will remain forever a work-in-progress and never become the finished product.