AC Milan owner and founder of RedBird, Gerry Cardinale, has spoken to the media on the occasion of "Italian Sports Day in the World", directly from New York. Here's what he had to say:
"When we bought Milan, it was to bring to Italy what we do for a living. There’s a much bigger strategy than what happens weekly in Italy, which is winning matches. Today (yesterday) we’re playing against our colleagues (Oaktree) at Inter. It’s the derby, and that’s the goal. But, you know, if people like me and Stephen Pagliuca (Atalanta's honorary president) have come to Serie A, I believe this type of meeting and discussion is fundamental."
He continued:
"The concept of 'Made in Italy'? When I look at Serie A and Milan, I wear multiple hats (as a fan): the Milan hat, the Serie A hat, and the Italy hat. Regarding Serie A, in the initial comments, the concept of 'Made in Italy' came up. It suggests that it’s the highest global premium quality: you think of Ferrari, Loro Piana, Brunello Cucinelli."
Serie A at high levels:
"Well, we should think of Serie A in the same way. We once thought of Serie A like this, then the world changed. And now when people talk about football globally and think of top quality, they talk about England, about the Premier League. And one of the things I’d like to do as an administrator of Milan and a participant in Serie A is to work with it and all the members of the Italian ecosystem to bring Italy back to what it used to be in terms of European global football. I believe this is crucial. I see Serie A as one of Italy’s greatest exports."
On results and innovation, Gerry Cardinale said:
"However, none of this can be achieved if we focus only on winning matches. We can’t do it if we don’t innovate, if we don’t change this paradigm in all of European football, where there seems to be an implicit notion that you have to spend whatever it takes to win, as if there’s a direct correlation between spending and winning. And I think I’ve already said it, and this is the level of sophistication we need to reach in Serie A."
On investments between Italy and America:
"It’s not about spending like a Middle Eastern government, which will never happen. It’s about spending an incremental euro of capital better, smarter, and more innovatively. What I do for a living in America, investing in sports, is always a public-private partnership. Municipalities are needed, governments are needed. These are public goods that you have the responsibility to provide to your community."
A call for help to achieve the goal, Cardinale commented:
"In Italy, I’ve never seen anything like it. In America, whoever spends the money to buy the teams is the owner of the team. In Italy, I believe the fans think the team belongs to them, and we have work to do to satisfy that notion. But what I’m trying to do, and I’m not getting much help from the Italian ecosystem, is to form a partnership between all the participants in the value chain: the fans, local government, national government, the capital to build our infrastructures. We have the Euros coming up in 2032. I’m trying to build a stadium in Milan."
The message to the Milan supporters:
"I won’t give you any message until we win. Because I understand that’s the only thing that matters to you. But I’ll do my job, and we’ll do everything possible to win. But to win intelligently. And if I do that, we’ll be sustainable in the long run. And we’ll contribute to growing the entire ecosystem, which I believe is our duty."
