Inter Business CEO Alessandro Antonello has spoken about the commitment of owners Suning to the Nerazzurri, and the plan in place to restore financial stability to the club.
The CEO gave an interview printed in today’s edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, wherein he outlined some of the major financial events at the club recently.
Some speculation has taken place about the financial future of the Nerazzurri, and the viability of their current ownership, with the club having serious problems exacerbated by the lack of matchday revenues in addition to owners Suning having debt and liquidity issues with their parent company Suning.com which have come to a head recently.
However, as Antonello explains, the program in place to improve the club’s financial health is having a significant impact, and its component parts are functioning well.
On the impact of the switch to Socios.com as a shirt sponsor after the end of the iconic 26-year partnership with Pirelli he had this to say:
“It’s an epochal change, from tradition to innovation, the guidelines of the future are digitization and contact with millions of fans who will stop being passive, and become active in the club’s decisions. Ask people, for example, how they want to design the club bus or how they want to use new slogans.”
Financially, the new partnership is significant, and the CEO outlined why this is the case:
“We sold the back space of the shirt to Lenovo and now the sleeve is still missing, so we are looking for another partner. Thus, also pushed by the Scudetto factor, we get to about €30 million in earnings for the complete shirt. I know it has divided the fans a bit, but the new kit is brilliant for me – it recalls the snake that made us rejoice.”
“At the end of the market session,” he continued, “we will do the math and only afterwards will it be considered, if necessary, whether to propose a ‘flat’ reduction of the Juventus model salary to the players. By receiving the Oaktree loan, Suning reaffirmed its commitment on the medium-long term, and it is on this horizon that we act.”
Lastly, Antonello talked about the club’s relationship with and attitude towards the InterSpac initiative for fan shareholding at the club:
“All the initiatives of fans that show connection and love are welcome. But if with Socios.com the fan enters into certain decision-making processes, Cottarelli’s project presupposes a share representation that has much more, other dynamics and complexity, and it is not easy to achieve in the corporate context. Only when the project arrives in the second phase will we be able to really make any pronouncements.”
