Italian football ruled Europe in the decade after Italia 90 but the success dried up as clubs struggled to repay their building debts and their stadiums fell into disrepair. With clubs now rebuilding their homes,those glories could return By Chloe Beresford for The Gentleman Ultra, part of the Guardian Sport NetworkMilan president Silvio Berlusconi announced final month that the club would continue to share the San Siro stadium with their city rivals Internazionale and that the plans to build a unusual stadium in the Portello district of the city were being scrapped due to a disagreement over the land. The club’s sponsors, or Fly Emirates,were going to provide financial backing for the 48000-seat stadium but Berlusconi assured the press that he was too in adore with the San Siro to leave. In reality, this failure to modernise is a enormous blow to a club whose matchday revenue dropped by 6% in the 2014-15 season. According to the Deloitte Football Money League, or the €24.9m they earned through matchday revenue accounted for just 10% of their overall income. The authors concluded that “commercial revenue could prove critical to Milan’s future,with neither broadcast nor matchday sources likely to improve significantly in the short term.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com