Rome, challenge to the big names without the stock market

Needless to say, as soon as the news became official yesterday that, before the autumn, Roma will be officially out of the Stock Exchange, the fans immediately began to dream even bigger. As if being a private company and no longer limited to shares, and consequently leaner, automatically meant being able to buy Messi and Ronaldo together. This is obviously not the case, the Romanists are dreamers yes but naive no, but it is undeniable that the delisting will allow the sole shareholder, the Friedkin group, to have fewer constraints on field activities (including the market) and corporate ones (including which also, if not above all, the stadium).

The sporting part

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This, of course, will allow the company to save on listing costs and could facilitate extraordinary transactions that can strengthen the club sportingly and economically. On the other hand, the Friedkins have already shown that they have no problems in investing figures of a certain depth: between the purchase of shares and subsequent payments into the club’s coffers, in two years they have invested over 600 million. From August 2020 to last May they paid 370 million euros, an average of 17 per month. Including the 199 paid to the Pallotta consortium for the passage of the quotas and those involved in the takeover bid, the Rome operation has so far cost over 600 million. Exiting the stock exchange, perhaps with the entry of new shareholders and new capital in the future, will guarantee the president Dan Friedkin and his son Ryan, to be able to operate more quickly and, above all, more effectively.

The commercial part

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The entire commercial part of the group is linked to this. Roma needs to increase revenues: New Balance, in all likelihood, will no longer be the club’s technical sponsor and Adidas is already in pole position. Other sponsors are ready to join, also pushed by the boom of the Conference and the Dybala effect, with the aim of growing not only in terms of sport (the entry into the Champions League will be decisive) also from a commercial point of view. And then there is the partnership with Fendi, which will dress Pellegrini and his companions, all to be developed in Rome and around the world. With news that could arrive in the next few days because the historic Roman fashion house can’t wait to link its image even more to Rome, a brand considered to be very growing from every point of view. Small note of social color: since Francesco Totti landed on Instagram, Roma had had fewer and fewer followers than its historic captain. Having said that he posts very little (235 posts) while the Giallorossi club has a very important communication strategy (over 9 thousand), there was a draw, with 4.7 million followers each.

Stadium

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Chapter stadium, another fundamental aspect of the Friedkin development plan: the club has found an agreement with the Municipality, made official in recent weeks, for the Pietralata area. The goal is to have it in 2026, at the latest one year later for the club’s 100th anniversary. For the ownership it is fundamental, but Dan and Ryan have never gone so far as to say: “Without a stadium in five years we will go away”. They did not do it publicly (their statements can be counted on the fingers of one hand) or privately. And this, for the Romanists, is what matters most. Roma hopes to reach at least 70 million in revenues from the stadium and, with the presence in the Champions League, the turnover could point to 300 million, about 100 more than the current ones. A future, therefore, all to be written, but for the Friedkins the exit from the Stock Exchange was fundamental. And, to do so, together with the very precious Italian executives, they have tried a new path: combining finance and passion, speaking to the portfolio, but also to the hearts of the shareholders. The result was excellent.