Gerry Cardinale received the Leonardo Da Vinci Niaf Award for Finance from Jimmy Pitaro, president of ESPN. The event was also attended by the President of the United States, Joe Biden. Below are the words of the head of RedBird and owner of AC Milan:
"Thank you, Jimmy, for being here tonight. It means a lot to me that you found the time to make it happen despite your always super busy sports programming weekend. This weekend, Jimmy will broadcast over 400 sporting events across the country and around the world: a typical weekend for ESPN, but it's what makes it the most important sports content platform in the world.
They are also our partner in the XFL spring football league, where we recently announced a merger with the USFL along with its Fox Sports property. Jimmy – I can't thank you enough for being such a great friend to me and to RedBird.
I also want to thank my friend Stefano Domenicali, another visionary and talented CEO, who leads Formula 1. It is an honour to be awarded tonight alongside Stefano and the other extraordinary talented recipients of this award, who represent the best of our Italian heritage in making a positive impact in the world.
This is the first time I have received an award or recognition for work that I consider a privilege to do every day. I am fortunate to love what I do, and there is no real line of demarcation between what I do and who I am. In this regard, I am incredibly fortunate and grateful for the extraordinary people who are part of my life, many of whom are here tonight.
There is an old saying that you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with - or as our friend and former AC Milan player Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently said, "The individual comes with the collective, and if the collective does well, then the individual will do well." As we approach the tenth anniversary of RedBird in 2024, I am very proud of the people who, with their incredible talent, make up the "collective" that makes RedBird such a special place to work.
I also want to thank Robert Allegrini and Joe Del Raso for giving me an enlightening perspective on NIAF and its mission. My Italian heritage is something I have always been proud of, and it is thanks to the joint commitment of my parents that this pride was instilled in me as a child.
Some of my fondest memories growing up were the summer trips we took to Italy every year. And in one of those summers in 1982, when I was 15 years old, I found myself celebrating in the streets of Santa Maria Di Castellabate for Italy's World Cup victory. I remember the heroes of that Italian team - Franco Baresi, Daniele Massaro, the late Paolo Rossi - and I also have a vivid memory of a level of celebration I had never seen before in America.
Moving forward, 40 years later, almost to the day, I found myself in a similar jubilation outside the Duomo in Milan, rejoicing with the Milanese for AC Milan's victory in the Italian Championship. Just days before clinching the title, we had agreed on the terms for RedBird's acquisition of ACM Milan, but we held off on announcing the agreement until after the match, so as not to distract the team or the fans. But as I stood there in Piazza del Duomo among the ecstatic Milan fans, I felt transported back in time, 40 years earlier, and the same feeling that somehow this was my home.
There is a fairly well-known photo of me at the Duomo, taken by a friend, showing me celebrating with the fans who would soon come to know me as the new owner of their historic franchise. But at that moment, I was completely anonymous, and I could reflect calmly on the surreal 40-year journey that in so many ways has marked my life and what it means to me to be Italian.
In the last 30 years, I have invested in sports and media, and I thought I had seen and done everything there was to do in sports. But this past year as the owner of Milan in every sense has made me appreciate in an entirely new way what we do for a living.
Yes, owning one of the most historic brands in all of European soccer is a privilege and a unique experience, regardless of who you are. But as a student of history, you quickly become aware of the gigantic Italian footsteps you are following, as well as your enormous responsibility to the people and fans who define themselves as 'Milanisti.'
And as if that weren't enough to compel you to stop and immerse yourself in all of this, on my first official day as the new owner of AC Milan, I found myself visiting the Casa Milan museum, at the Club's headquarters in the heart of Milan, embraced by the extraordinary history and legacy of this legendary team founded 124 years ago.
And who was guiding me along this history? None other than Franco Baresi and Daniele Massaro, two of the heroic players I had watched win the World Cup with Italy in 1982 as a boy, who are now valued advisers for me and the team.
After that summer 40 years ago, I brought with me a poster of those World Champions that I kept on my wall for the rest of high school - and I could never have imagined that two of those faces would now be working with me in the constant care of this historic franchise."
Gerry Cardinale added:
"For an American, the concept of "shared ownership" of the team with the fans is something new. As an Italian-American, it is a privilege that demands humility and that I am very aware of. When we win, I am ecstatic for our fans; when we lose, my heart aches for them, because I know what it means, especially after celebrating in 1982 and in 2022. In many ways, these thank-you notes for the recognition I received tonight are a "love song" to Milan and my Italian-American heritage.
And I would be remiss in my heritage if I did not conclude with the most heartfelt thanks and due recognition to my family, without whom I would not be here tonight: my mother Dorothy D'Annunzio Cardinale, who recently celebrated her 85th birthday; my sister Jeanie Cardinale Clover; my niece Catherine Clover; and my beautiful 16-year-old daughter Gigi, who left her college at Andover to be here tonight.
Gigi, I know I speak on behalf of Grandma Dorothy and Aunt Jeanie in telling you that we are proud to pass on our Italian heritage to you. And I look forward to seeing the extraordinary things you will accomplish in the next 40 years of your journey. I love you and am very proud of you.
Thank you."
