AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni has joked about his new ‘Stadioni’ nickname as he highlighted the areas Serie A continues to lag behind in relation to other leagues.
It has been well known for some time now that the Milan ownership RedBird Capital are perhaps even more determined than the previous ownership Elliott Management were to build a new state of the art home for the Rossoneri.
The issues that Serie A faces as a league are there for all to see, with revenues that are simply dwarfed by the elite leagues and clubs when it comes to TV rights deals and match day income, while the facilities continue to lag behind too.
Scaroni was present for an event at the Bicocca University and he was questioned by some reporters on a variety of topics, from the new stadium project to revenues among European clubs. His comments were relayed by our colleagues at SempreMilan.it.
“The history of the Milan stadium has become such a saga that they now call me ‘Stadioni’ since I often talk about it,” he said.
“I want to reassure the fans: the stadium doesn’t serve to increase the cost of popular tickets but they represent an opportunity to approach large companies that perhaps offer exclusive seats and services for their customers for their customers.
“Let’s be clear, we’re not inventing anything since they’ve been doing it in England for 20 years. They earn 100 million from stadiums, us 40. That’s where the difference is.
“I was in Yongong Li’s Milan, on the board of directors, but I counted for little. There were two mountains to climb: economic and sporting results, to be climbed precisely at the same time.
“From this point of view, the club has done well, this year we could perhaps get closer to break-even. From an economic point of view we did well and from a sporting point of view we cannot complain.
“We always want to have the Milan style, with a moderate language and not argue with anyone. This style has pervaded our club and we feel a social responsibility.
“You don’t have to fight in the dressing rooms as happened recently for example. We must be the first to represent a model.”
It is incredibly and rare difficult to achieve sporting results and financial responsibility while playing attractive football. Usually you only get two of the three. What Milan is doing rn is nothing short of a miracle
This club is slowly going somewhere