Cardinal: “Milan, I won’t stay still. The clubs need to be shaken up a bit …”

L. Bianchin – S. Cantalupi

October 20
– Milan

Activism, continuity with Elliott, work to reduce the gap between Serie A and Premier League. Gerry Cardinale, reference man of RedBird, the fund that bought Milan from Elliott, spoke in New York at “Invest in Sports”, a conference organized by Sportico. Within the “Expanding International Portfolios” space, he reiterated some concepts already expressed in the past and gave some clues to understand how his work in Milan will be in the coming months. “You can’t just buy a club and stay put – he explained -. The challenge is to shake it a bit. You can’t go with guns drawn, we have to understand how to do it but we can certainly make a good contribution.”

Italy

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Italy in particular for him is a fascinating and complex challenge: “At a macro level, the parameters between leagues are the same, but each league has its nuances to keep in mind. In Italy, for example, there have been no new stadiums since 2011, it’s significant”. In particular, Cardinale returned to the relationship between the value of TV rights in Serie A and other major leagues: “There is disparity in this sense. The value of TV rights in the Premier League is three times higher than in Italy and in Liga the ratio is two to one “. His plan is clear, as explained at the end of September at Leaders Week, another event of this kind: to strengthen Milan, help them grow and bring the Italian movement with them. Increase the value of the TV rights of the league starting from the growth in value of a single club.

Entertainment companies

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The challenge is clearly complex: “Investing in Milan is a hybrid of the experiences I have lived with Liverpool and Toulouse,” said Cardinale. And then, expanding to talk about Milan and modern clubs: “Clubs are now entertainement companies. What I learned with the Yankees and the Red Sox is that you can’t always win. This is also the beauty of sport. Milan have won one. Scudetto and the expectations are to do it again, but in the Champions League now we see that there is a big difference with the Premier League. “

Multi-club network

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Cardinale, in a round table that lasted about forty minutes, hinted that his plan to build a network of clubs, from different sports and nations, with a single ownership remains absolutely on the table. A sort of multi-club property, which can range from AC Milan to the Yankees, from the Rajasthan Royals of cricket to the Pittsburgh Penguins of hockey, all of which he has had and has relationships with. “A property with different clubs in different sports is interesting, I believe that in this way you can have strategic benefits – he said -. Through synergies you can grow. It’s all very theoretical but there is a logic in my opinion”.

Long commitment

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And again: “Elliott in Milan did a great job and I chose continuity. The duration of my commitment? I’m not worried about the exit strategy. I don’t invest to think about when I will leave.” In closing, Cardinale was asked a question about the SuperLeague, an always delicate topic. Cardinale smiled, underlined the context in which it operates (“We must deal with the difference between the Premier League and Serie A”), spoke of the complex relationship between the clubs and the leagues in which they operate and pointed out: “When you get to at certain levels, everything becomes very political. My job is to put my head down and work. It is interesting, however, to understand why certain things happen “.