Serie A scandal gone unnoticed [Bonus Article]

I was on shift the other week when a story by Calcio e Finanza, the website focused on - you guessed it - football and finance, was published regarding the sale of the international TV rights for Serie A between 2008-2018. Even though I have followed the league closely for over a decade now, I had never heard about the matter and as it turns out, I stumbled upon a scandal.

Most people will be familiar with the Premier League’s undisputed superiority when it comes to selling TV rights overseas. Why, however, is a question that is perhaps incorrectly answered by referring to the quality of the top five leagues. ‘They have better players’, ‘The clubs are more popular abroad’ and so on. Although there is truth to this, it isn’t necessarily the only answer.

After reading the aforementioned article, that belief has only been strengthened. Indeed, as it turns out, the three main companies that were bidding for Serie A’s TV rights overseas between 2008 and 2018 - MP & Silva, IMG and B4 Capital - were found to have been colluding before and during the bidding processes. This was established by none other than Italy's competition authority (ICA) and upheld by various courts afterwards.

Heavy fines were handed out, which we will delve deeper into, and there are currently active lawsuits worth billions in favour of Serie A and its clubs. AC Milan are one of the teams that are claiming damages but, as I realised along the way, they have an elephant in the room. Indeed, one of the ‘culprits’ in the TV rights scandal is now involved in the club.