AC Milan's top chief, Gerry Cardinale, founder and managing partner of RedBird Capital Partners, has spoken abou his adventure so far with the Italian champions. He focused a lot on the gap between the Serie A and Premier League clubs at the 'Invest in Sports' conference in New York. Here are his words:
"You can't just buy a club and stay put. The challenge is to shake it a bit. You can't go with guns blazing, we have to understand how to do it. But, we can certainly make a nice contribution."
He added:
"At a macro level, the parameters between leagues are the same, but each league has its nuances to keep in mind. In Italy, for example, there have been no new stadiums since 2011, it's significant. There is disparity in this sense. The value of TV rights in the Premier League is three times higher than in Italy and in La Liga the ratio is two to one."
Gerry Cardinale on deciding to invest in Milan and his vision:
"Investing in Milan is a hybrid of the experiences I have lived with Liverpool and Toulouse. Clubs are now entertainement companies. What I learned with the Yankees and the Red Sox is that you can't always win. This is also the beauty of sport. Milan have won one. Scudetto and the expectations are to do it again, but in the Champions League now, we see that there is a big difference with the Premier League (clubs)."
He continued:
"A property with different clubs in different sports is interesting, I believe that in this way you can have strategic benefits. Through synergies, you can grow. It's all very theoretical but there is a logic in my opinion".
On the commitment with AC Milan and Elliott's work, Gerry Cardinale said:
"Elliott in Milan did a great job and I chose continuity. The duration of my commitment? I'm not worried about the exit strategy. I don't invest to think about when I will leave. The Super League project? We must deal with the difference between the Premier League and Serie A. When you get to certain levels, everything becomes very political. My job is to put my head down and work. It is interesting, however, to understand why certain things happen."
