Italian football losing position

A study of European leagues determined that Italian football is losing its position to its European opponents because of old stadiums, incidences on the terraces and free television, all which is driving followers away from the matches.

While big Italian clubs such as Inter Milan and AC Milan make large profits from negotiated television deals and rank high in UEFA competitions and rankings, the performances hide a deeper dissatisfaction according to the study's authors.

"Italy's stadiums are totally decrepit... there's a big imbalance in television rights," said Philippe Piola, head of entertainment studies at the Euromed business school in Marseille and co-author of the report. "I'm pretty pessimistic unless there's a rethink."

Piola co-authored the report with Ineum management consultants in Paris.

The clubs are losing record profits due to changes in the way it can amortise the cost of players bought at the height of the transfer market boom, the study said.

Average attendance at Italian Serie A league matches fell 14 percent between the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, although the sharp drop can be attributed to an expansion of the league from 18 clubs to 20.

"Racism and violence (on the terraces) are not the best means to attract families to games," said Vincent Chaudel, head of sports at Ineum.

"The Italian clubs are not in the same situation as 15 years ago when they were the first to attract the best talent."

The study proved the dominance of the European game in terms of financial power by England's Premier League clubs.

Ineum reports French clubs also need to build new stadiums and raise prices to remain competitive in the future.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.