Ten Reforms for Italian Football

With election of a new president of the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC, Italian football federation), there is great opportunity for much needed reforms in Italian football. I’ll spare you a long preamble which would enlist the myriad of problems with Italian football - be it a failed national team showing at the past two world cups, apathy toward the Italian Cup, a spiralling UEFA club coefficient, poorer stadium attendance, shrinking percentage of Italian footballers in the league, increase in violence and of racist and territorial discrimination - we will present ten practical reforms (some small, some big) that would improve Italian football’s current state and brand, in particular Italy’s foremost football division, Serie A.


1. Build New, Club-Owned Stadia

Not hard to propose “club-owned stadia” as one of the much needed changes. The “how” is as - if not more - important than the “what”. Italian government will not gift Serie A club’s brand new stadia and then turn over ownership. With respect to financing, Serie A must invite or approach major financial institutions that are willing to loan them money at a very low rate. In exchange they would get in-kind advertising from Serie A for a number of years, while they clubs pay back their loan. The financing deal could take place in phases, with a pilot phase offered to one or two clubs/cities (preferably one that has not won more than 10 scudetti), then full implementation with phase one being offered to 4-5 clubs, and expanded in phase 2 to another 5-10 clubs. Eligibility criteria would have to be developed that includes at a minimum readiness (namely, have been successfully signed a 99-year lease for the grounds to build the new stadium), number of seasons in Serie A, population in the city/province in which the club is based, total fan base in Italy and within a 100 Km radius.


Effect: new stadia have been proven to increase/improve the revenue base of the individual teams (matchday revenue, sponsors and advertising and revenues from merchandising and rent of commercial space in the stadium) and safety.



2. Tailor scheduling to improve Fan Experience/Attendance and Club Performances in UEFA competitions

Start Serie A Sooner

Serie A should also consider starting the season in lockstep with Germany and England, which would mean earlier preseason, that would address conditioning/preparedness as an excuse for elimination in preliminary rounds of UEFA competitions. Players returning from the World Cup will find the time to come into their club team afterwards.

Effect: better performance in UEFA club cup preliminaries, Serie A schedule could be less compressed with an earlier start which makes personnell (players) management easier.


Start Winter Break After The Holidays

Currently, Serie A’s break commences 2-3 days before Christmas Day and resumes on or after the Epiphany (January 6). Teachers and school aged children have less time off than Serie A footballers. Serie A should consider moving its winter break until after the Epiphany, as most people are off work and at home and have extra time to enjoy matches televised or live.

Effect: Having Serie A played over the Holidays would be an opportunity to attract Serie A tourists world-wide who can visit stadia and cities, as well as entire families to visit the stadium together. Football is entertainment after all, isn't it? Furthermore, a two-week break after the holidays may give players the breathing room needed to recharge. Many recall how well German sides faired in the Champions League in 2013 by dosing their physical strain.


Adjust Schedule to Position Serie A’s UEFA Participants for Success

Serie A often falls over itself in making life difficult for its UEFA participants. Often, major domestic league clashes are scheduled between one or more Champions League or Europa League participant three days before European club competition. This puts the club in the position of choosing one competition over the other, which results in a poor league game or poor European performance, or both! A plausible solution would be to ensure that no major Serie A clash matches take place before the CL/EL matches. This means that the league should go at great lengths to develop algorithms in its scheduling programs to ensure that classic matches, derbies, and matches between CL and/or EL participants cannot take place before or after UEFA competition.

Effect: Better performance by Serie A sides in UEFA club competitions.


Make it Easier for Fans to Arrive and Leave Serie A Matches

Finally, city transit and intra-city transit doesn’t always work in tandem with football events. More often than not (I know this from personal experience) transit schedules are reduced on Sundays - read: on gamedays - which discourage spectators from opting for environmentally-friendly travel, increases traffic congestion on game day, increases stress, and lessens fan experience. City governments should work with city and intra-city (for visiting fans) transit authorities to ensure additional service is provided to ease gameday traffic and improve fan experience. This can be accomplished by including this plan in plans for a New Stadium, where a tripartite Public Private Partnerships (that includes club, city government, and investors) to develop areas in and around the stadium, including speedy transportation from the main train station/airports/other hubs.



3. Use Serie A Legends as Ambassadors

In similar fashion, former stars of Serie A can become ambassadors for the league and make appearances in league-organized events abroad like a legends game and tour that includes meet and greets, giveaways of some merchandise from the Italian national team and some of the more popular clubs.

Effect: Promote Serie A and the national team abroad and maintain the brand in order to maintain interest, fan base, merchandising, TV rights interest and demand.



4. Reduce Serie A to 18 or 16 teams

Effect: It would reduce the burden of an additional 4-8 games, leave more space for the national team to develop and gel, as well, it would allow for a longer Winter break (see proposal above), fresher, better preserved players.



5. Negotiate technical sponsorships with a single, league-wide deal.

Technical sponsorships with Adidas, Nike, or why not an Italian company like Kappa or Diadora could be negotiated by a Lega di Serie A united front to provide technical wear (jerseys, shorts, track suits, etc.) for the entire league.

Effect: Before you furrow your brow at the idea and think about the revenue loss for some teams currently slated to collect E20 and E30 million from Adidas, remember that at the turn of this decade Serie A recognized the importance of revenue from TV rights and decided to negotiate them collectively. For a few individual clubs at the top this meant some short term loss, but in the long run it enriches Serie A clubs no matter where they traditionally fall in the standings. A richer middle-of-the-pack club will fair better now than before in UEFA competitions as they have more money to invest in players and payroll.

Granted, this may be difficult to implement given the current individual club deals but could be implemented in 5 or 10 years from now, when they will all expire. In the meantime, the business requirements for a Request for Proposal can be developed, including the development of a Serie A merchandise marketing machine. Instead of going to an Adidas store for one team or a Nike for another, entire “Serie A stores” can prop up in all Italian cities and in world capitals (leveraging the promotion of Serie A Legends, mentioned above). And why not include the national team in this deal too?

A single technical sponsor may reduce the cost of producing merchandise (thus giving clubs the opportunity to optimize price point, and maximize profit) and facilitate the control of the production, sale and/or distribution of counterfeit goods, which is a drain on revenues from merchandising.



6. Encourage Fan Engagement in Preseason Tours, and Involve Mid-table Clubs

Serie A could also market itself better by organizing preseason tours for its clubs. Yes, the big ones already do it independently, but a coordinated effort could get middle- and lower-ranked teams out there to promote the league and its emerging stars. For example, Serie A lovers in Asia, North America, and Australia and Italian immigrant communities around the world would surely welcome clubs - even those less popular ones in Italy. In particular, immigrant communities might be interested in watching their home city’s team that has risen to Serie B or A.

During the tours, teams must do a better job to provide multiple opportunities for fans to engage: at open practices, before/after games, meet and greets in malls, etc. Kiosks or buses can be set up that give away club merchandise (t-shirts, key chains, minor mementos). Serie A clubs do not engage at all, via-a-vis EPL clubs for example. When AC Milan played in Toronto no open practice was held, and fans were not given opportunity to engage with players. This kind of elitist approach turns fans away… usually to clubs who do appreciate their fans. When Tottenham visited Toronto the same week they had a bus giving away club swag. If Serie A clubs continue to treat the fans as untouchables, they will only end up shunning themselves.

Effect: increase revenue from tours for the benefit of the touring clubs, promote the league, increase fan engagement, increase/maintain demand for Serie A abroad.



7. Incentivate Serie A’s Europa League Participants

Italy’s UEFA Club coefficient by federation has spiralled downwards mainly because of poor performances by Italian clubs in Europa League, because they follow the money. These are due to little economic incentive in Europa League to do well. In order to reverse this trend we propose a reward/bonus for Europa League participants based on performance for advancing at each stage (group stage, round of 32, round of 16, etc).

Effect: This will incentivate sides to advance and go deep into UEFA Europa League, and in turn increase Italy's UEFA Club Coefficient.



8. Revamp the Coppa Italia

The FIGC has struggled to sell TV rights to the Coppa Italia, due to lack of interest by the participants, due in part to the significance of winning the Coppa Italia (only a Europa League berth). A new format that is more engaging should be forged. For example, only the scudetto and defending champion should be seeded, the rest should be in an open format designed the same way the FA Cup is designed in England, with single games being played at the weaker team’s home stadium (optional: replays of the game to take place in case of a draw). The FIGC should lobby UEFA to get an additional preliminary berth to the Champions League for the winner, in lieu of the berth that is given to the 3rd place league finisher.

Effect: more interest/demand in the Coppa Italia due to earlier participation from Serie A’s storied sides and interest by the participating teams will increase competition, TV right sales, and in turn, revenue.



9. Make Serie A a Haven for Youth Development and Retention

Serie A has received criticism for having an older league, and national team. An injection of youth can take place by mandating minimum playing time requirements for players U21 for a three year cycle (preferably Italian players, EU laws permitting). The three-year cycle will match the cycle for the U21 Euro championship. For example, if this scheme were to start in 2014-15, it would mean that players born in 1994 would have to gather 1000 minutes (for sake of argument) over the course of the season. Whether this is one player who plays 13 full matches or 3 who play 5 full matches it doesn't matter. In order to avoid "gaming", employment of 4 or more of these players in the last 2 game days will not count toward the required total.

Effect: more experienced youngsters for the Italian national team, which would likely translate to a faster azzurri side, and faster domestic league game play. Also, it would mean that the best youth from around the world would have a greater chance to prove themselves in Serie A, which can begin branding itself as a trampoline for young talent. Will this young talent then flee to richer shores? Inevitably some will, but it will be up to the other reforms that will enhance revenue base (thus, clubs’ ability to pay its players better), success in the UEFA club competitions that will facilitate retention of skilled players (young or old).



10. Launch and Maintain a Serie A Investment Fund

Increase Serie A club registration fees by E1M per annum in order to use the money to invest in promoting Serie A. This money will be invested in advertising, the Legends proposal, the Europa League incentives, and other proposals above.

Effect: improved interest/demand in Serie A brand, TV rights, merchandising, by carrying out the proposals outlined above.

Special thanks to Ennio Longo (@JuveEnnio) for his specialist market-side input and to Ashraf Hossain for his peer review