AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni has admitted that he is worried about the future of Serie A as a league compared to others but remained positive about the state of Milan.
Speaking at the RCS Sport Industry Talk event (via Milan News), Scaroni explained that Milan have made great progress on their finances in recent years and he is happy with the position that the club is currently in.
“Milan is in a good position, we have closed the budget in the black after many years and we have had acceptable sporting results. So on the Milan front we are in good shape, I am happy,” Scaroni said.
Moving onto more negative matters, though, Scaroni said that he is worried about how TV rights work with Serie A compared to the money that divisions like the Premier League can rake in.
“On the football front and the future of Serie A, however, I am more worried. If for TV rights in Italy things have ended acceptably, for international TV rights we are unfortunately still not able to get what we would like. We collect €200 million from international TV rights, the Premier League takes €2.2 billion. Understand that there is a big difference. Then we see legal measures that instead of facilitating our industry complicate things even more, then I get worried. Sports results depend on how much we collect and the budgets of the clubs,” he said.
Scaroni was also asked about Milan’s plans to build a new stadium in the near future and he expressed regret that they are not in a new ground yet.
“The spectacle of football is given by the players and coaches, but also by the theatres in which they play. As far as Milan is concerned, I regret that we did not manage to make the most beautiful stadium in the world with private money, without asking the taxpayers for a euro. Let’s not forget that San Siro was built and then renovated with taxpayers’ money,” Scaroni said.
On the general objectives of the team, Scaroni stressed the importance of qualifying for the Champions League each season.
“I would like to win every match. For us it is a necessity to always be in the Champions League for economic reasons, but also because we want to feed our 500 million fans around the world with Milan. If I could always win the Scudetto I would obviously be happy, but it would be something more. The minimum goal is to qualify for the Champions League every year. Of course it is also a goal to get through the Champions League group stage, let’s hope that will happen again this year,” he said.
