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RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale is eager to modernize Italian soccer by bringing a more American-style match day experience. As the owner of AC Milan, Cardinale aims to break away from traditional Italian practices, starting with the construction of a new stadium on the outskirts of Milan.
Many of Serie A’s top clubs have long desired to leave outdated council-owned stadiums. So far, only Juventus FC has achieved this, with the Allianz Stadium, a move considered visionary in 2011. Recently, Inter Milan and AC Milan proposed plans to either rebuild or refurbish the Stadio San Siro but were denied by the city’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala.
Despite this setback, Cardinale expressed his ambition to transform Serie A during the FT Business of Football Summit.
“We’ve made more progress in 18 months than I think has ever been made in terms of a new stadium in Italy . . . we can start to do things differently,” Cardinale stated. “European football’s ecosystem needs to change.”
Since Italia ’90, the last time Italy hosted the FIFA World Cup, there has been minimal investment in the soccer ecosystem. Italian bureaucracy has stifled efforts to improve the match day experience for fans and broadcasters. Most Italian stadiums were built before professional football, relying on councils due to financial constraints. Now, in 2024, foreign investors are willing to fund new stadiums, but resistant councils fear losing rental income. Fiorentina’s Italo-American owner Rocco Commisso has also criticized the lack of modernization, having invested over $400 million since his takeover in 2019.
