By Clemente Lisi – ROME, Italy (March 6, 2012) US Soccer Players – Serie A clubs aren’t used to having American owners. Unlike England, there hasn't been an American ownership connection with the top tier of the Italian game. That is, until Thomas DiBenedetto took over AS Roma last year. DiBenedetto’s group purchased 67 percent of the club’s shares in April 2011, for $80 million dollars and in August officially took over as majority owner. That makes him the first American to ever have a controlling interest in an Italian team.
“Being Italian-American and growing up with a father who loved all things Italian helped me," DiBenedetto said. “When my partners at the Fenway Sports Group purchased Liverpool, I decided to go out on my own. When the opportunity came up with Roma, I knew it was my time and I knew it was the chance for us.”
For starters, DiBenedetto opened the Cuore Sole Village in January outside the Olympic Stadium. Part amusement park, part tailgate party, it's a place where fans of all ages can gather before home games. The village is aimed at creating a fan-friendly environment outside the stadium, something not always associated with the club game in Italy. He also said he wants to use American-style marketing and sponsorship deals to help Roma compete against the likes of Juventus and Milan.
“We aim high. Our first objective is to win and we also want fans to enjoy the stadium experience as much as possible,” DiBenedetto said. “This new project is a priority for us. It's aimed at women and children because we want to make the stadium experience great for them.”
As for the imposing Olympic Stadium – built in 1928, renovated for the 1960 Summer Games and upgraded again for the 1990 World Cup – DiBenedetto said he hopes to get the financing in place so that the club can build its own stadium. Seventeen Serie A clubs, with the exception of Juventus, play in stadiums owned by local municipal governments that are leased out annually to each club. Slowly, Italian clubs are realizing that building and operating their own stadiums, like teams in the United States and England’s Premiership, will lead to more control and money.
“We’re working on it,” he said. “We hope to come up with something soon. The Olympic Stadium is wonderful, but it’s just that, meant for the Olympics.”
The Olympics aren’t going to happen. Last month, the cash-strapped Italian government said that it would not put together a bid for the 2020 Summer Games. That’s of no concern to DiBenedetto, who may have very little experience with soccer but is no newcomer to sports. As a partner in the Fenway Sports Group, DiBenedetto has experience working for a company that ran the Boston Red Sox and NESN, an all-sports local cable TV station. The company agreed to purchase English club Liverpool in October 2010, although DiBenedetto has had no involvement in that venture. The corporate synergy may result in Liverpool playing AS Roma this summer in a preseason friendly at Fenway Park, according to officials familiar with the situation.
At AS Roma’s training ground in the southern suburb of Trigoria, it's business as usual. The DiBenedetto revolution isn’t apparent in what the players do on a daily basis, but they realize something is changing at the club.
“I think the club has a bright future,” said striker Francesco Totti, who was a member of Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning side. “The results will come. It takes time for a new president and coach to get a system into place.”
There is no doubt that the 61-year-old DiBenedetto is also focused on the team and results. Over the summer, the club hired former Spanish international Luis Enrique to be its coach. Enrique, a former youth coach at Barcelona, has brought that Spanish attacking style over to Rome with mixed results. After getting off to a string of poor results, the club entered last weekend in 5th-place only to lose to city rivals and stadium co-tenants Lazio 2-1 in the Roman derby to fall to 6th. Team officials have said that the ultimate goal this season is to finish at least third to qualify for the Champions League.
Critics charge that Enrique lacked the players talented enough to emulate Barcelona. Not helping matters was a longstanding injury to Totti, the team’s star player, at the start of the season. Unlike Italian team owners who are quick to fire a coach following a string of losses, DiBenedetto and his advisors have stuck with Enrique despite calls from pundits and fans who want him fired.
“I think when Roma hired me, they were looking for youth,” Enrique said. “We need reinforcements, but we have focused on youth. When I spoke with (DiBenedetto), they knew I was a coach who is attack-minded and that the fans come and enjoy themselves. It’s the only way I know how to play. We'll know at the end of the season how it goes.”
More from Clemente Lisi: