Sports big business reporter Zhang Tan reported,
September 22 is the scheduled date for the delivery of the first remittance to Preziosi by the US private equity fund 777 Partners. Genoa's €150 million deal, including debt, has been largely negotiated. Villa Rostan received an initial payment of 20 million euros, which also means that the transaction has officially started. The second purchase payment is scheduled to arrive on October 15. Genoa's 18-year Era of Preziossi is coming to an end, but preziossi himself, who is already 73 years old, is likely to remain in Genoa for about 3 years, acting as a bridge between the club and the league.
Italian football, which has become less and less favored by local capital, is becoming more and more popular with foreign capital. Today, the number of foreign clubs in Serie A has increased to 8, most of which are AMERICAN- Genoa is looking for a buyer, something new for several years. Now that a buyer willing to match Preziosi's offer, Italy's oldest club, has finally found a match, and will also enter the "American era".
Preziossi's Griffins for 18 years, from miracles to fans backlash
In July 2003, Preziosi acquired Genoa, which was then relegated to Serie A, for 22 million euros. After a failed promotion at the beginning of his tenure, in the 2005/06 season, Preziosi created a Serie A-level squad for Genoa, with future Chinese happiness stars Ravic, Inter Milan stars Milito, Milan star Abiati, and the manager is Quidolin. This Genoa team finally got their wish to advance to Serie B.
In the 2006/07 season, the "most volume in history" Serie B, although there are strong teams such as Juventus and Napoli, Genoa still won the third place, and because it was 10 points ahead of the 4th place, it avoided promotion to the play-offs and directly promoted to Serie A. This is also Genoa's return to Serie A after 12 years of absence. The manager who led the team at that time was Gasperini, who is now famous in Europe in Atalanta. In their first season back in Serie A, Genoa finished 12th, and in the following 08/09 season, Genoa finished 5th in the league and scored into the Europa League. In the summer window, part of the Genoa team (Milito, Motta) moved to Inter Milan, helping Mourinho to achieve the miracle of inter's triple crown the following year, creating the most recent European summit in Serie A.
The originally exciting story has become more and more prosaic after the surprise. In the 14/15 season, Genoa, still under Gasperini, once again entered the "Europa League" of the standings as the 6th place in the league. But then waited for the nightmarish result, Genoa failed to obtain a UEFA access card because the books could not pass the examination. The Europa League seat led by Gasperini was ceded to Sampdoria, a city rival who finished 7th in the season. Until a few years later, Ferrero used to joke about it to Preziossi. Samp, who was also not in a good financial situation, passed the scrutiny, and Preziosi's position in the minds of Genoa fans plummeted.
Since then, UEFA access permits have been approved every year in Serie A, but Genoa is often absent, and the accounts and financial problems behind it can be seen. Most recently, in May 2021, the Italian Football Association reviewed and issued UEFA access permits for 17 of the 20 teams in Serie A, including Spezia, who had just been promoted to Serie A and was subsequently punished by a transfer ban for reinforcements. But Genoa remained absent this time, along with only Crotone and Benevento, both of whom were relegated at the end of the season. After the setbacks in the European competition, Genoa's strategy was adjusted to relegation, and the performance often made fans complain. Even so, Genoa still has nearly 20,000 season ticket holders every season, making it one of serie A's most famous devil's home stadiums.
Invested in Italian football for many years, and repeatedly achieved low buying and high selling
Preziosi was born in Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. In the "North Drift" of the Italian southerners in the 60s, he went to the city of Milan at the age of 17. As a young man, he worked at Perfetti and then Philips, where he worked in electrical sales. In the heart of Italy's industry and finance, Preziossi gradually honed his keen sense of business. In 1977, at the age of 29, he began to try to start a toy wholesale business, but unfortunately it was not successful. A year later, in his garage in Baruccana, a small town in the province of Monza, Preziossi founded Giochi Preziosi, a toy company that would later develop into a large group.
Giochi Preziosi is second only to the famous Lego in its European counterparts and in the top four worldwide, behind Lego, Mattel and Hasbro. According to publicly available data, as of 2018, Giochi Preziosi had more than 500 employees, generated annual sales of 403 million yuan and a net profit of more than 29 million euros.
And Preziossi's investment in football has also begun from his own beginnings. In 1992, Preziosi acquired Saronno, a milan satellite city team, and promoted the team from The Itinia to the first division, and then "groundbreaking" to Serie B. At high point, Preziosi chose to sell Salono, completing his first successful investment in the world of football.
In 1997, Preziossi acquired the more famous Milan satellite city side Como and brought como to Serie A. In 2003, Preziossi sold Como with a buyback clause attached to the contract, but Preziossi, who had since focused on Genoa, chose to abandon the buyback como.
It is worth mentioning that after being sold by Preziossi, Salono and Como both had a shortage of funds from new investors, the club's books were full of holes, and then both teams were also investigated for fraudulent bankruptcy and false accounts after Preziosi's death, but in the subsequent rounds of legal proceedings, Preziosi successfully escaped. Before Como's bankruptcy, Preziossi had also sold Como players to Genoa at a low price, causing controversy.
Make a visual comparison of the three teams that Preziosi has joined: Salono is only a small town with a population of 20,000 or 30,000, belonging to the province of Valletse, but belonging to the periphery of the Milan metropolitan area. Como, one of the 11 capitals of Lombardy, is on a par with Bergamo, the seat of Atlanta, which is familiar to fans today, with more than 100,000 to 200,000 inhabitants, and is one of the port cities from Northern Italy to Switzerland. Genoa is the capital of the Ligurian region, not only that, Genoa team history also has 9 Serie A champions titles, although these 9 champions are from "ancient times", but only one championship can embroider a star above the team logo qualifications, looking at Serie A in addition to the northern three, only Turin is closer.
Follow the trend of "golden dollar football", but witness the end of the golden age
Returning to the original topic, Preziosi has been keenly aware of the arrival of the Italian football boom since the early 1990s and even earlier. By the time Preziosi entered Genoa, serie A was still alive. Unfortunately, the local toy tycoon made it to a heyday ending.
One of the people Preziossi admired most in his youth was Berlusconi, who started the Italian version of "golden dollar football". The boom of Italian football has risen due to the economic take-off, because the pioneers have been too successful, and local capital has poured in, throwing money and creating a "small World Cup" boom. Since the beginning of the new century, due to various reasons, it has gradually lost its vitality.
Both 07 Milan and 10 Inter began to sell the core shortly after winning the Champions League, and at the same time, the two investors of Milan City at the time, Berlusconi and Moratti, also moved their minds to leave. Because both Milan and Inter, in the period from 2007 to 2010, gradually realized that the club's revenue ceiling can no longer be improved simply by achieving results. The factors that hinder the increase in the income of Serie A are not something that ordinary investors or two can change: for example, the reduction of Serie A's competitiveness after the "phone gate" and the loss of stars. For example, the stadium problem, whether it is Milan or Rome, has repeatedly negotiated with the municipality without success, and has not yet formed a plan that can be implemented. For example, the lag in the Internet era has gradually lost the ability to occupy hot spots in Serie A - until the arrival of C Ronaldo briefly improved, and then returned to the original point with the departure of C Luo.
The deadliest thing is that Serie A has been around for many years and most teams in the league are losing money. The exposure is not as good as before, but the degree of burning money is following the rising tide of international football, and with the slow development of the local economy, more and more local investors choose to withdraw. Preziossi is not the first, nor will it be the last. Compared to the club's substantially bankrupt Chievo boss Campedelli, Preziossi was lucky, and the club itself had better basic conditions, allowing him to wait smoothly to the buyer.
In recent years, although Genoa's performance is indescribably outstanding, Preziossi has been "sticking" to Genoa, even if the fans put up banners in the stands "Preziossi get out, Genoa belongs only to Genoa fans", it will not help. In fact, it was no longer news that Preziossi wanted to sell the team. But buyers who suffered from not satisfying the offer have been unable to get rid of it. On the other hand, Preziossi has always enjoyed the attention and exposure that comes with being a Serie A investor, which can also be seen from his proposal to continue to stay in the team after selling the team.
What changes can the entry of U.S. investment into Italian football bring?
"The last era is over", in each city, there are different models.
Founded in 2007 by Steven Pasko and Josh Wander, 777 partners is headquartered in Miami, USA, and today has assets of more than $3 billion and invests in a wide range of fields, from aviation to film production. In recent years, 777 partners have paid more attention to the entertainment industry and sports industry. In 2018, 777 partners bought a 6% stake in La Liga Sevilla. After the acquisition of Genoa, the two teams may have more related operations. In addition, 777 partners has also invested in basketball BBL London Lions, women's football brand Ata Football.
After joining Genoa, from a competitive perspective, 777 partners is likely to appoint Gustavo Mascardi, a 63-year-old Italian-Argentine. As an agent, Mascardi has discovered Diebra, Montero, Crespo, Belon, Asprila, Salas, Cordoba, Bourdisso and other famous players. But the team's current structure will not change immediately, and former sporting director Zarbano will remain in office.
In Serie A, Genoa became the eighth foreign team (the other seven are Milan, Inter, Roma, Fiorentina, Venice, Bologna, Spezia), especially american capital, which seems to be very optimistic about the prospects of Serie A.
Florence's Comiso and Rome's former president Friedkin, the acquisition is tinged with personal feelings. The gold lord behind Venice, Duncan Niederlauer, who has a prominent resume on Wall Street, is more from the perspective of business. Elliott became the boss of Milan, because he originally lent money to Li Yonghong, but "unfortunately" did not recover the arrears, but let Milan gradually enter the formal. The 777 partners, who were rumored to be hoping to emulate the Elliott Milan model, took the initiative to choose Genoa.
It is reported that 777 partners' acquisition of Genoa is partly due to the desire to participate in the renovation of Genoa's Columbus International Airport. Columbus Airport is one of the port airports in Italy, but due to topographical constraints, it is difficult to expand, and therefore it is difficult to form a large hub. (Genoa's Prisque railway station and Ferraris Stadium are difficult to expand, both limited by topographic factors)
The Corriere della Sera, which has deep roots in the fields of football and finance, wrote that for mature capital in the Western world, active investment in Italian football may be based on two considerations: 1. The football audience market is stable and huge, and if you consider overseas markets, this effect is more obvious. 2. The ability to generate revenue. As the largest industry in Italian sports, football can generate 1% of the country's GDP, with direct + indirect income of around 18 billion euros per year.
The Italian football industry is very mature and has a sufficient scale. But today, there is a long gap in infrastructure from other major European leagues, such as the Bundesliga, which has built 70% more stadiums than Italy in the past 20 years. Investing in Italian football and improving infrastructure can pay off handsomely. The lack of infrastructure has led to an overall underestimation of €25 billion in revenue for the Italian football industry. But the Corriere della Sera also warned: "Sooner or later Americans will discover the bureaucratic level of Italy." (In fact, some Americans have seen this, such as Palota, who has left Rome because the stadium construction is far away.) ）
But the process of globalization over the past few decades, as well as the development of the Internet, has blurred the national boundaries of sports IP. With a number of American capital entering Serie A, it is worth looking forward to whether it can bring about a chemical reaction of "quantitative change caused by qualitative change" to Italian football. After all, in the catering, tourism, luxury marketing that Italy alone has not done well, Americans have proved that they can change the Italian business landscape.
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