The good news for Serie A, which starts today with the debut of the reigning champions AC Milan against Udinese in a San Siro stadium packed with 70,000 spectators (simultaneously, at 6.30 pm, Sampdoria and Atalanta compete against each other in Marassi ), is the return of popular passion with subscription records recorded in many squares after the complicated two-year period of the pandemic.
Full stadiums, heated cheering and a tournament with a not at all obvious outcome (unlike other countries, such as France and Germany) will increase the spectacle that the 20 clubs of the Italian top league are preparing to offer to over 200 countries. The Lega has in fact sold directly (in the US and in the Mena area) or through Infront, holder of media rights for abroad, the Serie A matches to 73 multichannel broadcasters (12 new) for a potential audience of over one billion. of viewers.
For the Middle East and North Africa area, the most profitable up to the three-year period 2018/21 (the Qatari broadcaster beIN Sports guaranteed a figure equal to 112 million euros per year), an agreement was signed last July with the Emirati company Abu Dhabi Media, which is worth 80 million dollars in total, guaranteed for the three-year period 2022-2025, plus possible bonuses linked to the expansion of the catchment area. In the three-year period 2021/24, therefore, Serie A lost over 250 million in revenues from this region.
Reforms needed
This is not good news for a football movement that must regain momentum and competitiveness. Without reforms, investments in sports and technological infrastructures that only a few companies have had the strength to face up to now, it will be very difficult to get back on top and remount the Spanish Liga and Bundesliga which in the 2021/22 season had a turnover, respectively, of 3.5 and 3.1 billion (against about 2.5 in Serie A, without considering the capital gains from the transfer market). The Premier League, which travels over 6 billion annually, is now a story unto itself.
A boost for renewal could come from new foreign properties. Out of 20 teams, Serie A 2022/23 already has seven (Inter, Milan, Rome, Bologna, Fiorentina, Atalanta and Spezia). But others could be added in the running, considering the negotiations started in Genoa, Sampdoria shore, Udine, Verona for the transfer of the clubs to foreign hands. In the recent past, the interest of US investment funds has also been expressed towards other realities such as Napoli.