Are Privately Owned Stadiums Only Way For Italian Teams To Prosper?

Hot Topic: Following the undoubtable success of Juventus this season, who recently opened their state of the art Juventus Stadium in Turin, are privately owned stadiums the only way for Italian teams to be able to compete financially with the rest of Europe?

For this question, we will be joined by Aaron Giambattista from Juventiknows


Aaron Giambattista (@Agiamba)


The jury is still out on whether UEFA's Financial Fair Play will be enforced or not, but it doesn't matter for Italian clubs. In the last decade, Spain and England has eclipsed Serie A in prominence- much of it is due to self-inflicted problems like Calciopoli, but the gap in revenue is most concerning in the long run. In Italy, the stadiums are council-owned, and thus the teams cannot extract full revenue, nor can they make improvements to expand revenue. The clearest case is Cagliari, who have moved their "home games"  over a thousand kilometers away because of the decrepit state of their stadium. The clubs have been overly reliant on TV revenue, and thus, exclusion from the Champion's League causes a major problem for Italian clubs.

Juventus launched an ambitious plan under the old Triade, buying out the much hated Stadio Delle Alpi and demolishing it for a new stadium. The old stadium was cavernous, had poor views, and few amenities. The Juventus Stadium, opened in summer 2011, has seating close to the pitch, a number of bars, restaurants, a shopping centre, a museum, and of course, a Juventus store. In matchday revenue alone, the stadium has tripled in revenue for Juventus, essentially matching Champion's League revenue. It's far from matching clubs in England, Germany, and Spain, but a step in the right direction in growing revenue and establishing self-reliance.

Matteo Bonetti

As it stands, Italian teams make almost 40% less revenue than ones with privately owned stadiums in other countries. It is a serious handicap for a league which has slipped to fourth place overall, and in turn lost a precious Champions League spot to the Bundesliga. The success of Juventus this season in their new state of the art Juventus Stadium cannot be questioned. Never mind the intimidating, hulking stands hugging the pitch, or the premium seating which generates plenty of revenue - the sheer aesthetics of the stadium are enough to draw interest from even the most lukewarm casual fan in Torino. 

Without getting into the whole boring Financial Fair Play, let's dumb down the most pressing issue in Italy right now. 90% of the stadiums are garbage. Old, withered monuments built before Christ, with outdated technology and shoddy pitches which resemble a slob of grass found right off the interstate. When you add these factors along with the olympic track surrounding nearly every pitch, the atmosphere that drives fans to go get off their couch and turn off the HD T.V. are nearly eliminated. In Bergamo, the poor fans of Atalanta are jailed behind metal bars and looming plexiglass stands like caged animals. So many stadiums around the Serie A which are publicly owned by the cities are an embarrassment to the league. Really, a Euro/World Cup competition could save these artifacts - but the quickest move to success would be for teams to follow in the footsteps of Juventus..

However, easier said than done..