Modern and owned by Juventus, the Juventus Arena will help Juve return to the top

It has been a troublesome time for Juventus since the 2006 Calciopoli scandal. Financially, the club has suffered greatly and its reputation has been seriously tarnished too. Forced to play in the Serie B as punishment for its involvement in the scandal that rocked Italian football, Juventus enjoyed an extremely fruitful period prior. But, it has proven to be a long and hard road back to the top. Without a major trophy in the six years since, next season Juventus will not even play in the Champions League for the second time in a row.

Many mistakes have been made in the club’s numerous recent attempts to rebuild. Money has been wasted on players who have failed to lift the team while the club has also made a mess in regard to coaching appointments. But, for all that the Old Lady has gotten wrong these last few years, there is one thing that she has gotten absolutely right and this one thing could prove to be the catalyst for launching the club back to the summit of Italian football. This one thing is the construction and development of the club’s own purpose built football stadium.

There are many reasons why Italian football has slowly fallen behind the likes of the English Premier League, the Bundesliga and La Liga. But, one reason is because Italian clubs do not make enough money from match-day revenues and the reason for this is that none of them own their own stadia. Instead, they lease and rent their venues from local councils for example and this greatly undermines the potential revenue these clubs could acquire.

In this year’s Deloitte Money League, Milan ranked seventh. Yet, solely in terms of match day revenue, the club ranked the worse out of the top ten teams and even worse than some teams outside the top twenty of the money league. In general, Italian clubs rank very poorly when based on match day revenues. Inter were the best placed Italian side coming in at 12^th while Milan ranked 15^th behind lesser clubs such as Hamburg, Rangers, Benfica and Tottenham.

In years gone by, Italy’s top clubs have heavily relied on the high levels of revenue received from the individual selling of their broadcasting rights. Of all the clubs in the top twenty of the money league, Juventus, Inter and Milan earn the greatest percentage of their total revenue from broadcasting. But, last season matters changed significantly. The Serie A departed from the model of individual selling and reverted back to collective bargaining. This development is significant because it means that less will be reaped by the big clubs compared to years gone by.

Consequently, the biggest challenge for Italian sides will be to increase their revenue from other sources and one area that has the greatest potential is in match day revenue. But, this can only occur if a club owns outright its own stadium.

One club that has been proactive in readying itself for this change in the economic environment of the game on the peninsula is Juventus. As of next season the Old Lady will play at their own brand new and ultra-modern stadium. While it may only hold a capacity of 41,000, the new stadium will surely create a terrific atmosphere that will have fans going back week after week. More importantly, the club will not have to pay rent for using the stadium and therefore be able to keep the total revenue from the sale of tickets.

Financial success in football is closely related to on-field success. Of all domestic league titles in the ‘big five’ leagues (English Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1) in the last ten years, forty three of them have been won by clubs in the top twenty of Deloitte’s money league.  Juventus stand to significantly gain financially from the development of their own stadium. But, more importantly, with the revenue from broadcasting rights being handed out more evenly in the Serie A, the Old Lady has given itself a significant advantage over its rivals. Inter and Milan have been slow to adapt to the changing economic environment and both club’s will suffer as a result.

Another club that has laid down certain plans for the development of their own stadium is AS Roma. This, along with the will of their new President, Thomas Di Benedetto, to make the club great again will significantly increase the competition in Italian football.

Inter and Milan have been the most successful Italian sides post Calciopoli. They are the richest and best supported clubs on the peninsula. However, with Roma’s plans to develop their own stadium along with Juventus who have already done so, the balance of power may start to head to the capital and finally back to Turin.

Unless Milan attain un-paralleled success on the field, both in Europe and domestically, the club will face great difficulty in the near future to maintain their position at the top of Italian football. Financial success is just as important as on field success. Indeed, financial success is a great driving force to success on the field.

Juventus’ road back to the summit of the game has been a long and tedious struggle. They are not there yet either. But, their new stadium, the increased match day revenues the club will receive that should compensate for any loss from broadcasting rights and the expected increase in commercial revenue as a result of the many entertainment venues, food and other public services that will be on offer at their new stadium, the Old Lady will make giant strides towards reclaiming its former glories.

Milan need to follow suit. A new stadium, one owned by the club, will not only increase match day revenue and offset expected losses in broadcasting rights, but, it can increase commercial sales too.

Milan ranked seventh in the money league this year, but, there is increased competition from many quarters. Manchester City rose seven places from last year’s money league rankings and with the club playing Champions League football next term, they will continue to rise. As mentioned, Roma and Juventus will also be looking to increase their ranking over the next couple of years. Suffice to say, the competition in European football is becoming more intense as more money is continually being poured into the game.

Only one club outside the top ten of the Money League has won the Champions League in the last ten years. That was Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto.  In the Champions League last season, Barcelona, Manchester United and Real Madrid comprised three of the four teams in the semi-finals. There is little coincidence that these three clubs make up the top three spots in the Money League. All this highlights the critical importance for Milan to stay in the top ten.

But, it is difficult to conceive how this will be possible without the club owning its own stadium in the near future. Because Milan share the San Siro with Inter, there are two options. One, Milan can buy the exclusive rights to use the stadium and force Inter to play elsewhere in addition to revamping the stadium. The second option would be for Milan to build their own stadium in another location. It does not matter which option the club opts for. What is important is that the club takes action sooner rather than later otherwise it will risk being left behind.