Scaroni gives stadium update and labels himself a ‘neophyte’ compared to Marotta | OneFootball

AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni has labelled himself as a ‘neophyte’ compared to his counterparts at other clubs, detailing the changes Italian football must make.

Scaroni became the chairman of Milan back in July 2018 after the club was taken over by Elliott Management Corporation following the transfer of ownership after Li Yonghong’s failure to repay the loan he took out to buy the club.

He was confirmed in his position as chairman in September 2022 following the purchase of the Rossoneri by the US-based fund RedBird, and he actually took up a position on their board too which strengthened the ties further.

Scaroni spoke on stage at the sixth edition of Sport Talk Industry, and he shed light on the path of the club, the stadium project and broader issues linked to football in Italy. MilanNews have published his comments.

How are you finding your role at Milan?

“The world of Italian football is difficult, I am a neophyte unlike Marotta and Percassi. I have had two owners, one who found Milan after making a loan to a colourful character like Yonghong Li.

“Elliott managed Milan like an edge funder, they appointed a CEO who came from Arsenal [Ivan Gazidis] and who knew football. They then placed me alongside him as a person who knows Italian football.

“RedBird, on the other hand, sought out Milan, inserting the club into an investment strategy in the world of sport. They give us a contribution of skills that we did not have, within a logic that thinks that European football can evolve towards an American model.

“I do not know if it will evolve in this way, thinking for example of basketball where there are no relegations and a salary cap.”

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Give us an update on the stadium project…

“I’ll give a quick overview of the stadium situation, today we are evaluating the 2018 hypothesis, that is, building a new stadium in San Siro next to the Meazza.

“Once this stadium is built we can transform the Meazza to host a series of sporting and commercial activities such as a hotel, shopping centre, headquarters and museum for Milan and Inter, necessarily creating the most beautiful stadium in Europe.

“If Milan and Inter build a stadium in 2030 it must be the most beautiful in the world. It is not the iconic San Siro, it is Milan and Inter who have made San Siro iconic.

“We are very happy to stay in San Siro, it is well connected and it is our home. We are keeping the door of San Donato wide open, the path of San Siro is always difficult even if I remain optimistic.”

Are piracy and betting big issues?

“Piracy is a huge problem for Italian football, with today’s massive seizure it is demonstrated that a wonderful law that we have is being applied. Today a massive seizure has finally been applied, we are talking about 25 million users.

“A huge phenomenon, we calculate that piracy in Italy alone costs between 500 million and a billion. These are costs for DAZN and Sky who broadcast the matches, but consequently they are also costs for us clubs.

“We absolutely must change the law that prevents us from using betting, we cannot not benefit from the world of betting. 35 billion in bets are moving on Serie A, that no Italian club benefits from this is absurd.

“It is allowed throughout Europe, not in Italy and I believe that if something is allowed throughout Europe and not in Italy it means that stupid things are being done in Italy. This choice was made by the five-star government and it is time to change it.

“All of Italian football lives from Serie A, there has been a long journey in FIGC where perhaps we have not obtained everything we wanted, but we have made progress. From the squabbles between the Lega Serie A and the FIGC no benefits ever come for Italian football.”