Italy’s Serie A, one of the so-called ‘Big 5’ European football leagues, has seen a steady flow of international investor interest over the last decade. Since 2011, foreign investors have acquired stakes in no fewer than nine Serie A clubs – including most recently AC Milan, Spezia Calcio, Genoa CFC, and Atalanta BC within the last 18 months.
Part of the attraction for investors may be the realisation that Serie A hasn’t yet come close to extracting the full potential of broadcasting rights deals – certainly not in the way some of its European counterparts have, such as England’s Premier League and Spain’s La Liga. For domestic TV rights, the latest negotiated deal for Serie A was €928 million, roughly half what the Premier League has secured.
