Berlusconi and Milan: (almost) 30 years of football entertainment
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When Silvio Berlusconi conquered Milan in February 1986 it was hard to imagine that he would change the history of football, not only in Italy, by transporting the most popular sport in the world into the era of entertainment and soft power. The idea of a tactical module no longer devoted to deadbolt and counterattack but based on the mantra of pressing and seeking an advance towards the opponent’s goal is affirmed in the schemes of Arrigo Sacchi da Fusignano, symbol coach of Berlusconi’s Milan, becoming so an emblem of spectacularized football, as well as a weapon of political propaganda.
Revolution in football
The acquisition of Milan, taken over by an indebted Giussy Farina, however, is by no means a corollary with respect to the revolution implemented in the television system by the Cavaliere, who first of all intuits how profitable the synergy between football and TV can be thanks to the trigger of advertisements. Already in 1980, in fact, he had bought the rights to the Mundialito, a competition for national teams held in Montevideo to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the 1930 cup.
The Mundialito live on TV
Berlusconi, making his debut in the sector, obtained from the state television the authorization to use the satellite to broadcast the event on Canale 5, the former Telemilano absorbed by the Biscione two years earlier. The Mundialito was proposed live in Lombardy. In the rest of the country the matches were broadcast on a delayed basis through a network of local broadcasters, creating the archetype of a national network. In practice, it was the dress rehearsal of the method implemented by Fininvest to circumvent the ban in force at the time for private TV stations to broadcast live programs throughout the peninsula.
The deal persuaded the Biscione, meanwhile grown with the acquisitions, in 1982, of Italia 1 from the publisher Rusconi and, two years later, of Rete 4 from the Mondadori group of the Formentons to promote a Mundialito for clubs. The invitational competition was held in Milan from 1981 to 1987, every two years. The regular guests of Inter and Milan compete under the television cameras of Canale 5, as well as Juventus and foreign teams with a great tradition.
Also for these matches the infrastructure of deferred broadcasts on local TV frequencies is set up. The solution, in fact illegal, however, triggers the reaction of the magistrates of Turin, Pescara and Rome who seize antennas and repeaters, obscuring the Fininvest networks. We are in 1984. A judicial dispute ensues which the Craxi government proceeds to remedy urgently with a decree law, laying the foundations for the end of the Rai monopoly then sanctioned in August 1990 by the reform of the radio and television system.
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