The president of Granata and RCS Mediagroup at Sport Industry Talk: “The Bull? I don’t want to keep it forever, I would like to leave it to someone richer than me. When I arrived there weren’t even any balls…”
Urbano Cairo talks about everything. He talks about his future in Turin, about the national team, about tensions within the system, but above all he talks about the urgency for a new sustainability of football. The president of Torino and RCS MediaGroup spoke at the Sport Industry Talk, the event organized by Corriere della Sera this morning in Rome, starting his speech from this central point: “Football is a great passion, for me who, as a kid, dreamed of being a player. But in the last 50 years our sport has been the victim of a paradox: costs are growing much more than revenues. And I’m not just referring to Italy, think that even English football, which is worth 8.2 billion euros, has heavy losses and only four teams in profit.”
sustainability
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And again: “Football has thus become an unsustainable activity. The goal is always to increase revenues, but we need to focus on containing costs. Politics? Football unfortunately pays a price, governments tend to struggle to give it a hand because they fear criticism from people who may be thinking about certain players’ salaries. In reality, our sector generates very high tax contributions, employs hundreds of thousands of people and is good for the mood of the country, as happened with the 2021 European Championship. It needs to be helped. As? Cinema has its tax credit, why grant it to football in exchange for investments in nurseries for example? And then the stadiums… Think about the ecobonus, we’re talking about 120-140 billion, think with 2% how many stadiums you could have fixed up.” So how do we face the future? “I am an optimist by nature, but the numbers should not be overlooked. Football in Italy today has a net worth of all clubs of 350 million, with 5.7 billion in debt. Something must be done, costs have exploded in such a worrying way that they are putting the football system at risk which, let’s remember, makes an important contribution to sport as a whole.”
THE bull
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Cairo then talks about Turin. “Do you want to know why I keep getting insulted? I took Torino 19 years ago: the mayor Chiamparino called me worried about the possible bankruptcy of the club, I answered the call also because I had a mother who was a huge fan but very cautious who in this case lost her mind and pushed me. There have been better and worse seasons, but we have been permanently in Serie A for 13 years. They often give us the example of Atalanta. It’s true, they have the X Factor. And to think that I was about to sign Gasperini in 2015 when Ventura was about to leave, but Genoa didn’t let him come.” Returning to his role as president: “I don’t want to stay at Torino for life, but I think it’s right to leave it to someone richer and better than me. When I arrived there weren’t even any balls, I would like to leave it to someone with those 20-30 million that I don’t have and don’t want to go into debt for. But I repeat, I don’t want to stay at all costs, twenty-year-olds end…”.
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All’estero
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The discussion shifts to foreign ownership. Good or bad? “Generalizations cannot be made, the Elliott fund did well at Milan as did Commisso in Florence. But football is not easy, money is not enough. Many, especially Americans, invest here because the prices of the Italian teams are very competitive compared to the American ones.” On February 3 there will be elections for the new FIGC president, elections that come after moments of tension: “And it’s certainly not a good thing, sometimes there are tensions linked to more personal things. Instead, there would be a need for greater unity of purpose involving the entire movement in order to overcome this difficult period.” Finally on Spalletti’s national team: “I think he made the right corrections compared to the European Championship which evidently disappointed us. He did well to involve players who at that time couldn’t play like Tonali and above all to focus on young players. We are experiencing a very positive phase and I truly believe that it can give good satisfaction.”
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