Men like toys and sports teams are the ultimate toy. Billionaires don't generally buy sports teams to make more billions. Bad investment strategy if that were the motive. It's almost always the prestige of owning a sports team, or in some cases having additional expenses to write off against your other business ventures. All I'm saying is that I hope this group wants to make Milan great again, and not just wanting a "shiny toy".
Sounds like Li will be out after missing his $32M payment today. Elliott will take over. Dark days ahead I fear. https://football-italia.net/123380/li-misses-milan-payment
John Fisher of the Gap in San Francisco and owner of the San Jose Earthquakes and the Oakland A's I know wants in as well. I'm also reading Ricketts who owns the (Baseball) Chicago Cubs wants to buy Milan too.... Il Milan ai Ricketts? "Sì, ci interessa" - Gazzetta
I know espn isn't wasn't what it should be with respect to confirming sources, etc., but... http://www.espn.com/soccer/ac-milan/story/3539959/chicago-cubs-owners-interested-in-buying-ac-milan i won't be holding my breath, but this is welcome news.
now i'm seeing rocco commisso. that's not as positive. i haven't enjoyed his antics with the cosmos, nasl, and ussf. with respect to his personality and PR nonsense, he'd be berlusconi 2.0. if the results on the field matched berlus, though, would we overlook all that?
I don't care for him either but Rocco Commisso could do a lot more in the Serie A by owning Milan than he ever would with the Cosmos.
The fact that the Lega Calcio actually permitted him to "buy" the club in the first place is yet more proof of just how criminally negligent, irresponsible, and completely useless it is. Could you imagine, say, the Bundesliga permitting someone like Li to purchase a stake, let alone a controlling share of any German club, let alone one the two biggest clubs in the league? Any cursory investigation into his finances and he would have been laughed out of the room. But that's Germany, and this is Italy. Corrupt ownership has been a problem in Italy for years (Cragnotti, Cecchi Gori, Parmalat, and the list goes on and on for decades), and an absolute plague throughout the lower leagues. Yet there's still practically no enforcement of any kind of standards when it comes to prospective buyers. Until that changes, this league will never be able to fully reclaim its former glory. It was a problem in the past as well, but with the commercialization of professional football, particularly over the past 20 years, it is crippling now in a way it never was before. And what makes it even worse is that it's all self-inflicted by the league onto itself.
could is the operative word. i won't pretend to have followed his soccer career, but all i've seen has been a lot of hot air and grandstanding. i haven't followed the ricketts' sports ownership very closely either, but they've done great work with the cubs on the field. they're also working on putting together a soccer team in chicago. i wonder if that will still happen if they buy into milan.
it's one year. they said we're out for 18/19 or 19/20 depending on qualification. we qualified for 18/19 so we'll serve the ban and be eligible for 19/20 if we qualify... assuming we get our accounting in order before then.
i wonder how much money li actually has in the club at this point. his takeover seems like how the glazers took over manchester united except that actually worked out for them. MUFC had enough revenue to service the debt unlike milan.
I have mixed emotions about Rocco Commisso owning Milan. On the one hand, as an Italian -American who has relatives in both NYC and in Reggio from where Rocco comes from, I'd be happy about him owning Milan. On the other, from some of the things I've read from him in regards to the new NASL, I'm not so sure I'd want him in charge. Granted the NASL has been railroaded by both the USSF (federation) and MLS in that they don't want that league to gain Division 1 status and give competition to MLS. The problem is, without those two entities, soccer across North America, could very well suffer another major setback. Not making the World Cup finals was sort of a blow but I'd hate to see another (old) NASL like folding of teams and leagues. With the coming of World Cup 2026, I think any negative will be a kind of a black mark to the game stateside.... Milan was a one time super major European and global powerhouse and although Italian football is still one of the best in world in my opinion, outside money may be welcomed but it could also spell failure instead of success. Let's just hope for the best.
he's trying to get a seat at the big boy table in american soccer. if he buys milan, he will have one of the seats at the big boy table in italian soccer. i don't see much comparison between the two situations other than noting the fact that he's not shy about using unsavory tactics if he thinks that's the way to get the result he wants. my impression of his dealings with ussf/mls/sum/etc. has been very trumpian. will that same personality show at milan? i'd assume so. will it matter? probably less than it does here in the states.
reports that elliott have taken over today. yesterday gattuso said the team are focused on getting back to work despite the circus going on with the club administration. we'll see how long their focus lasts if this drags on and on.