Italian football teams are increasingly adapting to European standards. An internationalization dictated by the need to make the product even more usable and attractive, especially for those looking at it from outside.
Of course, it’s not exactly an easy moment for Italian football. Fabrizio Corona’s revelations in which some players would bet on non-legal portals without thinking about all the security of an online casino featuring the ADM acronym and, who knows, even on football, have cast a very strong shadow
But if something is moving it undoubtedly concerns owned stadiums. A topic that is also in vogue in Italy, but still little endorsed by the companies themselves. In fact, there are not many teams that can say they have their own production plant. Even if compared to other countries we are still behind. Suffice it to say that in the Manchester United stadium there is the possibility of using Extreme Networks’ fast wi-fi.
Which stadiums are owned in Italy?
In Italy, the first club to build its own stadium, without the help of the municipality or other bodies, was Juventus. The Juventus Stadium phenomenon was born and came to fruition exactly in 2011 with the end of the pre-established works two years earlier.
It is no coincidence that from that moment on the sports model has benefited, especially from a technical point of view. Only in the last decade has the need to build modern and functional systems to meet the needs of the public, but not only, spread gradually and with difficulty. A new generation destined to upset the balance in the world of football.
After Juve, other clubs have organized themselves in this sense, such as Atalanta in Bergamo, whose Gewiss Stadium is currently still being modernized. The Dacia Arena in Udine replaced the old and historic Friuli stadium, contributing to its progressive evolution.
How much do you earn by owning the stadium?
Stadium ownership has a very high profile economic impact for a club. To date, the numbers say that it represents more than 10% of the annual turnover. Numbers destined to rise further if the relevant club is particularly accustomed to titles and great performances on the pitch.
Revenues can fluctuate on average between 30 and 40 million euros. In the Premier League and in other foreign contexts, the costs of a single ticket to the stadium are particularly high, but justified by an average quality of viewing and a welcoming, top-notch stay.
All this does not happen in Italy because the earning power of a owned stadium has not yet been fully perceived. It must be said that in many cases it is bureaucracy that dominates and prevents certain projects from moving forward. This is why there are still few structures outlined in this direction.
Which teams have their own stadium?
In the 2023/2024 Serie A only 5 teams can boast of having their own stadium: Juventus, Atalanta, Sassuolo, Udinese and Frosinone. The latter, having just returned to the top flight, has completely renovated Benito Stirpe, giving it new shape and substance starting from 2017.
The Ciociaria president Maurizio Stirpe himself strongly wanted this work after having worked on a project that has extremely distant origins. Suffice it to say that planning on paper dates back to the 1970s.
From the 90s onwards, attempts have been made to breathe new life into what was proposed, but without achieving great results. It was necessary to resort to credit financing to have the construction and management of the plant, entrusted by the Municipality of Frosinone to the company until 2061.
How much does it cost to build a 20,000 seat stadium?
The Frosinone stadium can accommodate up to 16,000 spectators. The typical example of a football field that does not necessarily have to be large in size, but adequate to the needs of the spectators and the city itself.
The renovated Benito Stirpe cost around 20 million. A considerable sum for a small club, but perfectly within an investment logic. The 8 million loan from Credito Italiano obtained between 2015 and 2017 did everything else.
An entrepreneurial success that aims at a sustainability logic valid not only for Serie A, but also for the lower categories. Between Serie B and Serie C, several teams are seriously thinking about making modernizations, some in one direction, some in the other, keeping an eye, in any case, on their availability.
Not all clubs in lower categories have the ability to shell out certain amounts and this makes Italian football compared to English and German football, for example. Suffice it to say that an English second division club invoices much more than another of the same level in Italy thanks to the resources of the stadium it owns. Anything but a coincidence.
How much did Juve spend on the stadium?
The Juventus Stadium, when built, cost more than 150 million euros. It stands on the ashes of the old Delle Alpi and boasts a capacity of 40,000 spectators. UEFA places it in category 4, i.e. as an ultra-modern and stylistically refined facility.
An investment that at the beginning did not seem to lead to the desired effects, but which, over time, was repaid in terms of trust and consensus. Also thanks to the team that was able to resume the thread with the glories of the past and obtain winning results, especially in Italy.
The correlation between technical and brand growth of Juve and the unified development of the Stadium is not that far-fetched. It certainly exists. From 2011 onwards, Juventus, after a period of lack of performance, returned to the levels they deserved, not only thanks to the greater proximity of the public to the pitch.
An incisive aspect, but which does not totally justify progress in this sense. The Bianconeri have always positioned themselves as the pioneers of a certain way of doing football entrepreneurship and business on a management level.
The objective of Italian football is to provide the appropriate and minimum tools to other clubs to be able to afford to build their own stadium. An absolutely not simple task, considering the limited resources and a slow and cumbersome bureaucracy.
Politics in this sense can provide a big hand, trying to reduce bureaucracy in certain practices and make them more streamlined. Italian football has set itself this mission for the next few years, but the obstacles are far from being contained, at least in the short term.
2023-11-10 14:31:00
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