Gerry Cardinale is pushing forward. The announcement of the construction of the new San Siro together with Inter was "only" one of the steps he had and still has in mind. Yesterday, the head of RedBird launched the new holding company, Milan Sports & Entertainment, which will help the club further increase its revenues. Be careful, though: the objective is not business for its own sake. Cardinale has a clear objective: to have more money to invest in signing top players. As happened last summer with Gonçalo Ramos, Gila and Moreira.
Cardinale wants to win. In Italy and in Europe. But to do so, he knows that Milan must compete with the Premier League giants in the transfer market. That is why he has launched his revolution. Do not compare him to Berlusconi, whom he greatly admires. If he succeeds in bringing the Rossoneri back to the top as he hopes, perhaps in a couple of decades Cardinale too will be among the most successful owners.
Cardinale, what benefits can Milan obtain from the creation of this holding company?
“The driving force behind operations like this is to provide Milan with the financial power necessary to compete in the transfer market to secure the best players in the world. I will transform the club’s financial profile with the resources that will come from the stadium, the arena in San Donato and the other activities we are working on, such as NBA Europe. I am doing everything possible to ensure that, when we want a player, nobody can tell me: ‘You cannot sign him because you cannot afford him.’ Right now, only Premier League clubs are able to invest certain amounts and secure top players. If I want to bring Milan back to the top in European competitions, not just in Italy, we have to understand how we can compete with the most important clubs in the world," he told to La Gazzetta dello Sport microphones in an exclusive interview.
This project confirms that your commitment to Milan is long-term...
“Yes. I will never sell Milan. Never. And this is a project to make the club return to winning. I am not willing to tolerate it taking a long time to achieve that. I want to do it as soon as possible. We will see how quickly... My objective is to win Serie A titles consistently and, of course, return to the Champions League. Milan Sports & Entertainment represents the foundation for making all of this possible."
The connection with Milan deserves a separate discussion: RedBird and the city are now even more closely linked.
“This is the legacy we will leave to Milan. The stadium, obviously, represents an enormous legacy that will transform our financial profile, but there is also the project for the area in San Donato and everything else. If we want Milan to become great again, we have to close the revenue gap with Premier League clubs. When I bought the club four years ago, I used the expression ‘Berlusconi 2.0,’ and nobody understood what I meant. Now perhaps people are beginning to see it.”
Could you explain that better? Cardinale answered:
“Everyone thought I was making an arrogant, egocentric comparison between myself and Berlusconi, but that was my objective. What I was trying to explain was that, just as Berlusconi had transformed Milan and Serie A along with it, we want, through our ownership, to be capable of bringing the club into the new era we are living in. And we have to do it in the same way Berlusconi did, meaning in a new way. I am used to working in a certain way because that is how I operate, at the highest levels in the world and in America."
Could your "formula" also work for Serie A?
“Of course, for Serie A too. In my opinion, selling 30% of its international commercial rights when JP Morgan's offer arrived would not have been a good deal. That is not how Serie A can return to the top in Europe. It has to be done through business planning and by creating every opportunity to generate new revenues. Just as we will do with Milan Sports & Entertainment. We will be the first to build a stadium since 2011 (together with Inter, editor's note), and this is an enormous achievement. I started working on it when I bought Milan, and finally... the right moment has arrived.”
Do you think others will follow you on this path?
“No. Some perhaps will, others will not. We know what is needed to innovate and change. So that we do not continue putting into practice Einstein's definition of insanity, according to which everyone wants a different result but does not want to do anything differently to achieve it.”
How much time do you think will be needed to move forward with the other projects that will fall under the new holding company?
“I think the NBA is negotiating with EuroLeague, but one way or another, if they cannot reach an agreement, NBA Europe will go ahead anyway. Perhaps at the end of the year or in the first months of 2027, the first group of new franchises for Europe will be announced. We will see when that happens... In San Donato, we own the land, and if I am granted the franchise for Milan, I will be able to begin construction rather quickly because we already have planning permission for a 20,000-seat arena. Furthermore, we will continue exploring opportunities and holding discussions in the tennis world to organize a tournament in Milan. Finally, we are already making progress in establishing and launching a hospitality and venue management company."
Does your project also involve organizing and managing hospitality services for other clubs' stadiums, not just San Siro and the new San Siro?
“Yes. The model is the company I created in 2009, called Legends Hospitality. I created it together with the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys. Now that company is a business worth several billion dollars. We do not just sell premium seats, suites, merchandising, and hospitality, food and beverage services for Yankee Stadium and Cowboys Stadium, but also for other clubs. I would like to adopt the same model here, probably in partnership with another club.”
Not many football clubs around the world have established an organization like the one you are developing... Cardinale commented:
“Exactly. My ambition is to compete with the best clubs in the world. I want to do this thanks to my global vision of the world of sport and entertainment. There are not many multi-sport ownership platforms in the world that also own some of their own facilities, and we want to add Milan to that list. To compete with them and then be better than them.”
With a view to finding new revenues, are you also considering a tour next summer for Milan? Australia again, or the United States?
“We have already discussed it with Amorim, and I will only tell you that, if we play friendlies abroad, next summer they will be in the United States. If we play them... We have not decided yet, and the choice will be Ruben's. It will depend on what is best for the team: playing friendlies abroad must provide added value for the group, not earn the club a couple of million. Those two million will no longer be our objective, as happened under the previous management. Under this ownership, that will no longer happen. Everything we organize in terms of friendlies will be carefully considered together with our coach. Every trip. And we will not participate in tours organized by others. We put our players first. We want to help them prepare well to win. That is our objective, and we aim to achieve it as soon as possible.”
