TURIN: Juventus Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) Giorgio Ricci opines that playing a regular season game overseas each year will be a ‘good option’ for the Serie A, which has commercially fallen behind the likes of the Premier League, BBC Sport reports. The Premier League’s latest TV rights deal is said to be 770 million pounds ($985.4 million) greater than that of the Serie A per annum.
“To get the league more global is really important. Exporting one of the 38 games is a good option,” Ricci was quoted as saying to the news agency.
Spain’s La Liga has mulled the idea of FC Barcelona playing Girona FC in Miami on 26 January, which will be the first ever Spanish club game to be played in the USA. However, it faces severe opposition from FIFA, Spanish FA and the Spanish players’ union.
However, Ricci believes that Serie A could take a cue from the likes of the NBA, that exports a game or two in other continents every year that is ‘not an exhibition’. This can help strike a balance between commercial needs and the domestic DNA of the game.
“If we look at some other more developed leagues in terms of commercial strategy; the NBA and NFL, they are exporting one or two of their matches abroad, to the UK or elsewhere in Europe.
“I think it is a good strategy. It is a way to export something that is not an exhibition.
“The key is finding the right balance between what the commercial need is and not losing the domestic DNA, which is the essence of football.” Ricci added.
Ricci’s comments come in the light of Juventus being ranked 10th in the 2018 Deloitte Money list, being 232.6 million pounds ($297 million) behind leaders Manchester United. He also explained the rationale between the Italian heavyweights paying a record 99.2 million pounds ($131 million) to acquire Cristiano Ronaldo this summer from Real Madrid.
“The whole Ronaldo operation represented the very first activity which shared from the very first stage of the operation, the sports needs and the business needs of the club.
“It is unique in football because it combined a development plan and a return on the plan, both on and off the pitch.” he concluded.
Juventus will be keen to see the success of their Super Cup match against rivals AC Milan on 16 January 2019 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
