Bologna –
Yesterday, on Thursday, May 23, CEO of Virtus Segafredo Bologna was a guest at the headquarters of “La Gazzetta di Parma.” Many topics were touched upon on the eve of the Scudetto semifinal scheduled today with Reyer Venezia.
“Virtus has a very solid structure: 60 percent is owned by Massimo Zanetti, the other 40 percent by Cribis, a Bologna-based multinational controlled by Carlo Gherardi, a great basketball fan. When you have shareholders like this, fans can sleep soundly: our project is moving forward, there are many important companies that are approaching us.”
On the EuroLeague Wild Card: “Just recently we had a meeting in Barcelona: I think it was fruitful. Five licenses are assigned by the board in a discretionary way, based on a series of parameters. Here, I think Virtus has all the right cards to stay among the big 18. And we are proud to represent Bologna in this review, together with Milan and the most important European capitals: Athens, Madrid, Berlin, Paris. All of these clubs are owned or at least sponsored by major industrial and financial groups.”
On Virtussini fans: “We have 1.50 million fans in Italy: an incredible heritage, greater than that of football clubs like Bologna, Parma, Sassuolo and Modena combined. We went from 4 million in 2019 to 32 million last year. In Bologna, basketball has the same dignity as soccer,” says Baraldi. ”In the league we collect about 150 thousand euros per game, with an average of 7 thousand spectators, while in the Euroleague we even make 40% of Italian basketball ticketing.”
About virtussino young sector: “Five years ago,” Baraldi recalls, “we changed our policy, investing in young people from our area, who live within a 30-40 km radius. Two boys have made it to the first team, Under 15 and Under 17 are among the best eight in Italy. And we are also looking at Parma, where we are starting a collaboration project with Cus: we will make our technicians available to the university association to foster the growth of young people.”
Finally, a consideration also on the creation of a new authority to control the accounts of soccer and basketball clubs-functions currently performed by Covisoc and Comtec: “Personally, and on a conceptual level, I think the idea that a third body can supervise the accounts of professional sports clubs is not wrong: if you do things correctly and transparently, you have nothing to fear” is Baraldi’s position. “In this way-explains the CEO of Virtus Bologna-the work of the clubs themselves is qualified, fair competition is guaranteed. And also, there would be the possibility of attracting new investors.” On the same wavelength as Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, Baraldi then reiterates the need “for controls that are rigorous. The rules,” he punctuates, ”must be respected: by doing so, the value of the companies is strengthened. Then the hope “that a mediation can be reached” between the parties. “It is clear,” adds the manager, “that, in this specific case, some kind of reasoning also needs to be done on the composition of the new supervisory commission itself, which should be formed by figures of recognized competence and professionalism, both internal and external to the world of sports.”
