Football: Serie A assembly, only 5,000 in the stadium until February 5th and closed away matches
The Lega Calcio accepts Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s invitation and reduces stadium attendance. The assembly of Serie A clubs, “in consideration of the exponential growth of infections in recent days”, as stated in a note, unanimously resolved to reduce the capacity of the stadiums to the maximum limit of 5 thousand spectators for all the matches of their competitions until February 5th, the date of return to the field after the stop reserved for the national teams. . The decision “testifies to the great sense of responsibility of the football clubs in the face of the emergency state”, “despite full compliance with the current safety procedures always adopted for the control of access to the stadium”. spectators, however, “it needs a few days”, and therefore the provision will be effective starting from the third matchday of the championship (January 15), because for the matches of the tickets have already been sold next week (second day of Serie A Tim, Supercoppa Frecciarossa and midweek round of the Coppa Italia Frecciarossa).
Football sacrifices itself: but the boom in infections came during the Christmas break
Football has thus decided to self-tax after the premier’s “threat”: “Stadiums closed or stop in the championship”. Still, the data did not show the need to reduce stadium capacity so much. The Gazzetta dello Sport writes: “The absolute divergence between the decision taken yesterday and the scientific data is out of the question. Particularly not secondary, because the numbers have always been used to underline the importance of the vaccine and other measures taken by the Government to combat the pandemic . Contagions increased dramatically during the holiday season, between 23 December and 5 January “. That is to say exactly during A.
But the economic risks to the football system are devastating
Now, however, the ball is in danger of bursting. The Gazzetta dello Sport still writes that “according to data from a study by the FIGC, in the second part of the 2019-2020 season 73 million euros were lost in takings and 35 million from hospitality. In the last championship the teams complained of failure to enter the stadium. for another 229 million in receipts and 65 million from hospitality. The total is 402 million in lost revenue. To these will be added another 100 million approximately (it is a very credible projection) of losses at the end of this season. A revenue deficit of half a billion in two years, which football can no longer support “.