In the first part of the interview, Gerry Cardinale discusses the operation and his objectives in the entertainment industry, particularly in relation to the competition with Netflix. The link to the world of football comes through the issue of broadcasting rights: he is asked whether the new Skydance group could somehow enter the race for Serie A rights. Cardinale's answer is cautious: "We'll see. I don't know yet. I think DAZN is doing an excellent job. But anything is possible. We have a lot to do and many priorities to focus on before thinking about this."
Milan is then brought into the discussion, along with how this RedBird operation could impact the Rossoneri world:
"Serie A was the Premier League. Milan were at the top. What happened? In these sectors, if you become complacent and fail to reinvent yourself, if you don't show up every day with a sense of urgency when it comes to innovation, you will be crushed by the competition. Hollywood became complacent. It thought it was protected. Then a DVD salesman came along asking to license the content. Netflix was born and crushed them because the technology had changed."
Finally, he comments on how to move forward in order to grow Serie A and Milan:
"I have said several times that we need to improve the product, make it more appealing and interesting both to distributors and to international audiences. In Italy, people are somewhat afraid of change and there is some resistance to innovation. Italian football needs to innovate. It needs to change with a sense of urgency, and I want to be one of the catalysts for that change. I see many similarities between Hollywood and Italian football: both have enormous potential and need to start innovating with urgency again."
The interview was relayed via Milannews.it.
