From 97 million to 3 million a year Inter lost a major advantage in Serie A

"Milan Sports Daily" with the title "Inter Milan bids farewell to the golden age of Chinese sponsorship", discussing the fact that Chinese sponsorship is ebbing at Inter.

During the Spalletti period, when we looked at the competitive situation in Serie A in the following years, we judged Inter's survival in Serie A for a period of time to be "sitting on two to one", which was based on the theory that "the economic base determines the superstructure".

In Serie A, the cost of building a team depends on annual revenue. The more you earn, the more you spend.

Some fans never change their thinking, scold the boss when they have no money to spend, thinking that everything is solved by coming to an "oil daddy"! However, more than ten years of Serie A has not waited for a big moneylord, in the final analysis, it is because the local tycoons who have spent a lot of money will choose the Premier League, and even prefer to choose Ligue 1 rather than Italy. Burning money and wanting to do something, but frequently encountering constraints and anger everywhere, what do you want!

Even if the Serie A team changes owners, even like AC Milan several times, it still cannot change the "earn less and spend less" way of living.

Because the environment is too bad, it is even more difficult for Serie A teams to increase revenue (as can be seen from how difficult it is for Milan to repair the stadium), so, in addition to box office, TV broadcast fees, European revenues and other difficult to increase input, which team in Italy has other means of income, has a higher team budget, which is an iron rule.

In previous years, Inter Milan and Juventus had unique advantages in this regard.

Juve's advantage is to have their own stadium, something both Milan dreamed of but couldn't ask for.

Inter's advantage is Chinese sponsorship.

So in the past few years, Juve and Inter's annual budgets have been the absolute first and second in Serie A.

In football, although the team with a high annual budget is not always the team with the best results, a team with a revenue of 300-400 million a year will always have advantages in all aspects when facing a team with a revenue of 200 million a year.

This is the basis for the Nerazzurri to regain the title years later.

The Milan Sport newspaper counted the specific number of Inter Chinese sponsorships.

2016-17 season, 75 million euros.

2017-18 season, 92 million euros.

2018-19 season, 97 million euros.

2019-20 season, 44 million euros.

2020-21 season, 38 million euros.

2021-22 season, 16 million euros.

By this season, it was only 3 million euros.

Some of these controversies, such as the Italian media's statement that "Chinese sponsorship is only 3 million", did not count Lenovo, probably because Lenovo is headquartered in the United States. This is not the subject, it's a matter of opinion. The general trend is constant.

In the process, although some Chinese sponsors defaulted and about 60 million euros of payables became "bad debts", these earnings have indeed helped Inter a lot in the past few years.

Case in point: jerseys.

In the Serie A championship season, Inter jersey sponsorship is 7.5 million fixed plus 2.5 million floating, a total of 10 million, about 1/28 of Manchester United, 1/26 of Barca, Serie A can only rank sixth. This is the big hole left by Tohir.

However, due to the sponsorship of the two Chinese companies, the sponsorship fee of Inter's training uniform was as high as 50 million euros, which was five times that of the competition uniform, and it was the widest level in Europe at that time.

The two shirts together earned the first place in Serie A and were much higher than the second place (more than 30 million for Juve).

Without these gains, the Nerazzurri would not have been able to claim the Serie A title. With the revenue generated by the Meazza stadium alone, the Champions League income from the group out in those years, and no other inputs, how can Inter afford to raise a coach with a cost like Conte and Pintos, and how can they buy champions like Romelu Lukaku, Barrera, Ashraf and Eriksen?

Now, China's sponsorship has receded at Inter, leaving Inter without the conditions to "sit back and look for one" in terms of financial resources.

First, because the general environment has changed. There is the impact of the epidemic, there is Beijing's strategic adjustment, but also because of Suning's dilemma, and so on.

But the most fundamental reason is the question of "worth it or not". Chinese sponsors' investments in Inter have generally not received the expected return – huge losses in Serie A, which is a concern for many Chinese companies.

At present, China's economic strength and world status are here, and although the enthusiasm of Chinese companies to sponsor football is not as good as in previous years, it is still the world's top.

For example, in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Chinese sponsors have become the largest donors of the competition with a total sponsorship of 1.395 billion US dollars, far surpassing the United States, West Asia, Japan and South Korea. Not to mention Italy, all European companies combined.

1 FIFA partner, 3 official sponsors of the World Cup, 2 official sponsors of the AFC, plus 13 sponsors of signed teams, 4 signed football stars... Chinese companies occupy a very heavy weight on the World Cup stage, so the World Cup does not lack Chinese elements. The competition has become a stage for China to showcase the achievements of reform and export its culture.

Why are Chinese companies enthusiastic about investing in the World Cup and lack interest in investing in Serie A? In fact, this is the same reason why the white turban chaebols are willing to invest in the Premier League or even Ligue 1, but they stay away from Serie A. This is not a matter of simply putting the pot on Zhang Kangyang alone.

Media such as Milano Sport are reflecting on this issue.

From the world's No. 1 league back then, to the point where it is now unattractive to overseas sponsorship and difficult to survive, Serie A really needs to be reflected. Media reflection, if it can promote some change, even small changes, is better than doing nothing.