Milan, Gerry Cardinale: “Being the owner of a football club brings a certain stress”
«Being the owner of a football club brings a certain stress, to be honest. In a way I've never experienced before. My idea has always been to look at sport like any other sector. You can make widgets in Omaha or own the Giants in New York. It should be the same thing.”. The one speaking owner of Milan, Gerry Cardinale in an interview with Gq (released during the Champions League match against PSG at San Siro, then won by the Rossoneri).
«It is stressful to own things in general – the words of RedBird's number one and owner of the Rossoneri -, to deal with this type of money, to be a trustee for third-party capital. Now I have a new level of stress that I have never experienced before».
On negotiations to buy a football club, Cardinale underlined: «If you are buying any other type of company, detailed research on the shares is commissioned before making an offer. While for a football team there is not much analytical rigor behind such assessments. It's simply worth what someone is willing to pay.”
Gerry Cardinale has clear ideas on investments in the world of football and the role of investment funds: «Once capitalism is involved, there is no way to moderate it. We are moving towards a corporate ownership model. It's an arms race. And it will continue to move forward. Capitalism will find its way through the cracks.”
Gerry Cardinale: “This is why I decided to invest in Milan”
Why did you decide to aim for Milan? Mister RedBird explains: «Investing in European football does not lead to restrictions on ownership… sovereign governments, oligarchs, wealthy individuals can all buy teams. Salary cap? The data from European football are all very informative for the NFL, NBA and MLB, where this rule exists. They can see the ins and outs of a complete Wild West.”
Gerry Cardinale makes a comment on sport in general: «Sport captures, in a period of two or four hours, the entire human spirit. It's a lesson I learned from my father. He would cut out articles from the sports pages and leave them next to my cereal. What if all sports clubs were to become corporate property? Big business. The human element. How do these things not destroy each other?”.
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