Skip to main content

Serie A's stadium problems

With most TV deals negotiated at league level and new regulations that link spending to income, top clubs across European football are raising billions of euros, dollars and pounds for stadium redevelopment with the aim of creating a more diverse pool of cash flow.

In Italy, the problems with infrastructure are acute. Serie A was the top league in the world in the 1990s, but has since seen its position slip, in large part due to a lack of investment. It now generates less broadcast income than top leagues in England, Spain and Germany, and recently concluded a domestic TV deal at a lower price than its last contract.

Club executives and owners, including a growing band of professional investors, see new stadiums as key to getting the league back on track.  “Italy is super interesting because the infrastructure has held back huge clubs with massive fanbases and international appeal, which is why we’re seeing international capital move in,” says Christopher Lee, managing director of stadium design firm Populous, who helped design Tottenham’s stadium and is working on stadium projects at both Inter Milan and Roma. “They are ultimately very undervalued assets. The stadium is the one thing that flips that.”

The two Milan teams share the San Siro, which was completed in 1926 and then renovated ahead of the 1990 World Cup. The fierce rivals have explored building a new venue together, but recently announced separate plans to build their own stadiums each with capacity for about 70,000 fans. Both would be some way south of Milan city itself. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more

Gold standard ground boosts Tottenham's income

The gold standard in European football grounds is the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London, a £1bn construction project completed in 2019. Its impact on the club’s finances has become increasingly clear as the effects of the pandemic have faded. Previously, the average fan would spend less than £2 inside the ground on a typical match day, but now that figure is about £16, thanks to new facilities including the longest bar in Europe and an on-site microbrewery. Capacity has gone up from 36,000 at the club’s previous home of White Hart Lane to 62,000.  The new stadium — built on land adjacent to White Hart Lane — has opened the door to a broad range of other events that have helped to push commercial income up from €117mn in 2018 to €215mn in 2022. Last year, Tottenham hosted US singer Beyoncé for five nights on her global Renaissance tour, two NFL matches, as well as rugby games and heavyweight boxing bouts.  Money brought in from football has gone up too. Match day ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spurs to sell minority stake

Tottenham Hotspur is in talks to sell a minority stake in a deal that could value it at up to £3.75 billion and pave the way for Joe Lewis and his family to sever ties with the Premier League football club. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is seeking an investment that values the club at between £3.5 billion and £3.75 billion, including debt. While the terms of any deal have not been finalised, City sources expect Spurs to sell about 10 per cent. The club is being advised by bankers from Rothschild on the sale. Tottenham wants to raise fresh capital for new player signings and to help fund the development of an academy for its women’s team, as well as a 30-storey hotel next to its north London stadium. The financier Amanda Staveley, who brokered the deal for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take over Newcastle United, is understood to be among the parties to have expressed an interest in Tottenham. Staveley’s fund, PCP Capital Partners, has raised about £500 million to ...
Post a Comment
Read more