Fuente: © AC Milan
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AC MILAN: UEFA still appetising

The true economical difference between the Champions League and the Uefa Cup is not dramatised by Adriano Galliani. The other topics: the factors that are favoring English football, the stadiums, the Lega calcio.

/noticias.info/ Adriano Galliani talked about the economical impact of Milan's absence from the Champions League: "Milan's balance sheets are made up at the end of the year. This means that for 2008, we will have only a semester without the Champions League. There's still a difference in revenue of about 20 million euros, with a scissor that increases if the Uefa Cup finishes in the first few rounds and you go far in the Champions League, and decreases if you win the Uefa Cup and you leave the Champions League early. In any case Milan still have Champions League level costs to deal with. But our president will continue to pour money into this club like he always has, bringing the club from the courtroom to being the most title winning club in the world, and although our balance will be negative, no crazy amounts will be spent. There are other clubs who spend more than us."

Adriano Galliani continued: "Football offers popularity, visibility, pleasures. When you are dealing with clubs who spend more, you are forced to do the same. But I will always be very careful about the numbers. The competitiveness of football is made to lose money. In the sense that to keep our big name players we pay the same amounts as those who, in Spain and England, earn twice as much as us. The difference between Serie A and the Premier League? The English have more subscriptions to Pay-TV channels, the clubs own the stadiums, the medium wealth of the English and in particular Londoners gives a lot more resources to football teams. In a word, fans spend more money. The indicators of a country are taken into account by those who are involved in economics, football is not a world apart, it's influenced by these indicators."

The other themes touched with the economic journalists: "The new stadium? It's a mountain to climb for us. We had a lot of meetings to talk about a new stadium, keeping as a reference point the AufSchalke Arena of Gelsenkirchen which, with its earnings, unsurprisingly changed the existence of Schalke 04. We also have to take into account the fact that, without wanting to create any controversy, the reference point of Milan and Inter, the community of the city of Milan, have no interest in encouraging the stadium of two inhabitants like the two Milan clubs who pay a very high yearly rent fee. The Lega chairmanship? I will never again be the chairman, I couldn't live anymore, everytime Milan received a favorable refereeing decision I would get insulted whenever we played away from home. It's probably right that the number one of the Lega Calcio is not directly involved in a football club. Now it's also a rule. Our Uefa Cup on TV? I think we are very appetising, because we are the only club playing on Thursday night. We are already discussing about the rights for our first five home games with Sky." notas_de_prensa_archivo