Milan owner Cardinale has big plans for Serie A: ‘Let’s make it one of Italy’s greatest exports’

Gerry Cardinale has outlined an ambitious vision for Italian football, expressing his desire to meet Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to build a joint plan for revitalising Serie A, while also revealing the considerable frustrations he has encountered in trying to build a new stadium in Italy compared to his native United States.

Speaking to the Financial Times over lunch at Milanello, just days before Milan’s derby victory over Inter, the RedBird Capital founder and Milan owner was candid about the cultural and political barriers he has faced since acquiring the club.

“In the US I could do it with my eyes closed,” he said of the stadium project, with quotes via MilanNews.

“Here there are linguistic, political and cultural barriers. I am building a stadium and I want it to be an Italian product, Italian banks financing it, Italian companies competing for naming rights, Italian commerce and hospitality surrounding it. In the States I could do it without thinking. Here it is not my ecosystem.”

Milan owner Cardinale: ‘Let’s make Serie A one of Italy’s greatest exports’

Despite those frustrations, Cardinale’s long-term ambition for the club and for Italian football more broadly remains undimmed.

“I would like to reach the point where, if I have built enough credibility, I can go to Rome, sit down with Meloni or whoever else, and say: let’s build a plan to relaunch Serie A,” he said.

“Let’s make Serie A one of Italy’s greatest exports.”

It is a bold and genuinely exciting vision, and one that, if realised, could have profound implications for Italian football’s standing.