Gandini admits fears for Serie A
Reuters - Wednesday 30 March 2011, 17:42
ROME - Serie A could become a
second-tier European league unless attendances go up, according
to AC Milan director Umberto Gandini.
His bleak analysis came after poor performances in European
competition this season, a negative trend that means Italy will
lose a fourth Champions League qualifying spot to Germany in
2012/13 after being overtaken in the UEFA rankings.
"Italian football has a very big problem," Gandini told
Reuters in an interview. "There is disaffection among fans about
going to grounds and more and more are watching games on
television.
"Maybe Italy will have to change its role and become more of
a second-tier league than one of the top three in Europe," added
Gandini who is also vice-chairman of the European Club
Association.
While Serie A's TV income will rise 20 percent this year to
more than one billion euros thanks to a new
collective rights sale, crowds have been on the decline with
half-empty stadiums a common sight.
The average attendance last season was 24,603 - less than
Germany's Bundesliga (42,441), the English Premier League
(34,150) and Spain's La Liga (27,699).
"The problem is the opportunity to increase revenue and
turnover," said Gandini. "We have a fairly good TV contract even
if the centralisation of rights penalises top clubs.
"We have good, though not exceptional, commercial revenues
but very poor matchday revenues from the stadium, concessions,
and merchandising. There is a huge gap between Italy and
especially England and Spain."
Serie A's tag as the sick man of European football was
brought into sharp focus last year by Deloitte's Money League
where Italy's top earners AC Milan ranked eighth.
In 2005 a total of three Italian clubs - AC Milan, Inter
Milan and Juventus - were among the top seven.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Performances on the pitch have waned too.
While the 2003 Champions League final featured AC Milan and
Juventus, this season only Inter's last-gasp heroics against
Bayern Munich have kept the Tricolore flag flying in the
quarter-finals.
AC Milan and AS Roma were eliminated in the first knockout
round while Sampdoria failed to reach the group stage. In the
Europa League Napoli were knocked out in the last 32.
"We've not been very good in the Europa League. German clubs
have been excellent which has had a clear effect on the UEFA
ranking," said Gandini.
"The reasons are probably because our clubs in the Europa
League do not have enough depth in their squad to play in two
competitions which comes down to a lack of matchday revenues.
"The ability to invest is key to bringing in the top
players. We had all the best players in Italy back in the early
1990s and then there was an escape to Spain."
Juventus, whose matchday income has fallen since 2005, will
move into a new 40,000-capacity stadium next season but AC Milan
are staying put despite the revenue-generating possibilities
associated with a new ground.
"We have no plans to have our own stadium," said Gandini
referring to the ground share with Inter. "We have an agreement
with the city of Milan for many years."