«The Superlega is not needed, we need to safeguard the national championships»- Corriere.it

«The Super League is not needed. Recent reforms have already made the Champions League a top-level tournament in terms of visibility and economic relevance. The important thing is to respect the merits and safeguard the value, including the social value, of the national championships. The coat of arms shouldn’t be enough to guarantee a place in European competitions.” the president of Turin and RCS mediagroup Urbano Cairo he takes up his thoughts on the future of football in the interview published by «Milano Finanza». In other words, merit must continue to count and it is not possible to think of a development controlled by a few big European clubs.

However, for national football to continue to survive after events such as the pandemic and the first energy and then economic crisis that have put the whole world in difficulty, the support of the government is also needed. “The modification of the Melandri Law and the reduction of bureaucratic burdens would be interventions at no cost – underlines Cairo”. On the installment of tax arrears, on the other hand, the attitude of the government and of the Minister of Sport, Andrea Abodi, was disappointing and not brave. Italian football has suffered as much in the pandemic as all sectors, but unlike the others it has not received any support. Football, unlike cinema, has no saints in heaven. It’s just a cash cow: zero help. However, the fear of criticism has made the government forget that football has 300,000 employees and supports the entire ecosystem of Italian sport, which otherwise would have no resources. It is not a plaything for wealthy entrepreneurs.’

But then the Serie A league it must also find the way to improve margins which are instead down. »Serie A – explains the president of the granata – must work above all on the development of television rights on international markets, as other leagues have already done before us. In the last round we had managed to collect around 350 million from their sale, today we have taken a step back. The elimination of the three-year limit on the sale of images abroad will help because those who buy international rights will be able to plan for the long term, outlining a plan capable of generating margins».