What is Behind the Increasing American Ownership in Serie A? | OneFootball

Forty percent of Serie A teams are owned by Americans. What’s behind the increased presence, and what is the vision for the future?

Serie A is increasingly becoming a hub for American owners. In the 2025-26 season, eight Italian top-flight sides have U.S.-based owners or majority shareholders. This includes major clubs like Inter Milan, AS Roma, AC Milan, and Fiorentina, in addition to newly-promoted sides like Pisa and Parma.

At the same time, Bologna have had Canadian businessman Joey Saputo as majority shareholder since 2014. The Rossoblu, after periods of struggle, now find themselves as regulars in European competitions.

The current landscape is a far cry from how Italian owners ran the show in the golden era of the 1990s, where Serie A found itself at the center of the game and had incredible global appeal. In a way, it was similar to how the Premier League finds itself at the pinnacle of the sport right now.

Italian football’s charm died off after the Calciopoli scandal, spurring local businessmen to move away from owning clubs and opening the door for foreign ownership groups to step in and take control.

The nature of these ownerships indicate a willingness from owners to stick around despite obvious difficulties. Italian football, after all, isn’t easy to navigate. There are major structural and infrastructure-related issues plaguing calcio, often making it difficult for ownerships to grow the stature of clubs.

Alexander Jarvis, founder of sports investment boutique Blackbridge Sports LLC, believes that low-cost entry points in Serie A appeal to American owners. Valuations of clubs in Italy have significantly dropped since the golden era and this has played into the hands of North American owners. There is also a rising cultural similarity due to a large number of Italian-Americans.

“Low revenue multiples for sure play a role and there is also the aspect of low cost entry points,” Jarvis said. “I’d say Italy also has a special lure with its unmatched food, history, people and legacy. That really appeals to Italian-Americans who are the most active investors.”

(L-R) CEO Corporate FC Internazionale Alessandro Antonello, Oaktree’s Global Opportunities strategy Managing Director Katherine Ralph, Managing Director and Co-Head of Europe for Oaktree’s Global Opportunities strategy Alejandro Cano, CEO Sport FC Internazionale Giuseppe Marotta attend a meeting between FC Internazionale new owners Oaktree and Club’s Management on May 22, 2024 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Guido De Bortoli/Getty Images)

That is certainly true. After all, Serie A clubs cost much less than clubs in England. While American ownership is certainly present in the Prem, the buy-low-sell-high premise of Serie A seems to be more attractive to prospective owners.

While the entire Premier League big six is in the top 10 of the Forbes most valuable clubs list, no Italian club makes the cut, with Juventus (11) and AC Milan (14) in the top 15 and Inter Milan (17) in the top 20.

These lower valuations make it easier for owners to buy Italian sides. Growing those valuations does pose a problem but Jarvis believes most American investors aren’t in it for the long term. If you were looking to do some anonymous wagering, American owners looking to sell after just a few years may be a good bet.

“Most Americans are medium-long term investors, 5-12 years,” Jarvis said. “There is still plenty of upside for that still in Italy. Especially if one can acquire a Serie B or Serie C under a 1x multiple.”

This crucial pointer is mirrored by ownerships as so far, as none have shown indication of lasting over an extended period of time. They are fairly new in the Italian game but they face obvious problems of valuation growth beyond a certain point.

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Napoli CEO Aurelio de Laurentiis spoke about this quite recently. He pointed out obvious problems about stadiums in Italy and how clubs in other countries find it easy, as councils always pose political issues.

“When [Carlo] Ancelotti arrived, we managed to put a few things in place,” Laurentiis told Corriere dello Sport. “Paris Saint-Germain pays the same figure to the Council as Napoli, but they have exclusive use of the stadium, with which they generate more than €100 million a year.”

This has caused problems specifically to Rocco Commisso’s Fiorentina.

La Viola were bought for only €160 million in 2019. Now, they are amongst the top 32 clubs in Europe, according to Football Benchmark, with a valuation of €500 million. While there is a clear increase, stagnation is settling in.

The club announced a major renovation project to the Stadio Artemio Franchi in 2022, with original plans to be completed by 2026. Three years later, and it doesn’t seem like the proposed completion date will be reachable. It almost feels like Fiorentina are playing at a construction site these days.

A source who works at the club has informed Urban Pitch about the political situation, clarifying that Commisso wanted the new stadium to be entirely privately funded. Local politicians showed no sign of cooperation, leading to the owner building the Viola Park sporting center.

The situation is now complicated and there is instability on and off the pitch. The source informs us that the stadium’s reconstruction project has started without the presence of enough finances to finish it.

Urban Pitch has also been informed about the short-term approach to operations under Commisso.

Fiorentina’s strategy appears to lack a long-term goal internally, making the approach very reactionary instead of proactive. There is belief that cracks could show, with the club still without a win in Serie A this season.

Something similar is also observed externally, at Juventus. The club has been flip-flopping in terms of identities, hiring managers on the fly and operating on survival mode without any real larger vision.

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This gives an indication that Commisso, like many other owners, is simply seeking profits and ways to maximize possible earnings. They are perhaps just waiting for the right time to seek exits and depart.

This is also mirrored in how these U.S.-owned clubs are promoted. Little is done to target an international audience, despite immense global potential to make clubs reach millions of people.

The source close to the matter informs us that minimal effort has been put in to tap into an international audience, even though the city of Firenze carries enormous global appeal and charm. It is known to be the birthplace of the Renaissance and also boasts a massive tourist population. Despite that, the focus is entirely on the local, Italian fanbase that goes to the stadium. Therein lies a paradox at the club.

Even if the club is trying to cater to locals, the stadium problem is clearly holding them back. After all, the target audience is being affected by all the bureaucratic issues. Similar issues were also faced by Milan and Inter in their bid to have a new stadium in place..

This shows that the attachment is purely financial and not emotional. If it was emotional, attempts would be made to globalize the product and potentially make it better.

Roma, owned by The Friedkin Group, are attempting to modernize their stadium. But so far, nothing has moved. As a result, Juventus are the only club which earns major revenue from its own stadium, helping it target a larger audience too.

Italy is blessed with a rich culture that should also ideally appeal to the Italian immigrants in the United States. Major cities in the country are filled with masses who speak Italian fluently and would also potentially care about the Serie A product.

Even though Serie A has an office in the U.S. now, more efforts from individual clubs can go a long way in showing that the overall influence of the league reaches new heights.

Despite that, it doesn’t seem like US-based ownerships of Serie A clubs will stop anytime soon.

Jarvis senses that this will only grow because there is too much capital to be exploited. This will always prove to be attraction.

“There is so much capital that needs to be deployed so for sure,” Jarvis said. “More deals are on the horizon. Difficult to say if those deals will result in a decent return on investment. But compared to other markets, Italy is still undervalued.”

Beyond the finances, there is also the question of performances.

Italian football is at a point where it is difficult to find clubs with stability. Managers are changed often, identities shift within weeks. AC Milan are a classic case of that, as they had two different managers last season. Roma too struggled with finding a direction last year, though they find themselves at the top of the table nearly one-third into the 2025-26 season.

In that sense, Atalanta and Bologna are far more stable and are associated with certain footballing ideas. Even their models are based on acquiring profits by selling players that were signed for cheap. Inter are also unique in that sense and for years, have had a stable tactical identity. It is barely reactionary and more focused on the larger idea of what the club, or company, should be known for.

This has helped them compete at the highest level consistently. Through that, Inter have also reached two Champions League finals in a short space of time.

Increasingly, Italian clubs see these clubs as examples of how to operate and have unique ideas attached to them.

This would be especially useful for North American-owned clubs. They will make easy profits from sales, while also being known for something. It also mirrors their reason for buying those clubs for cheap in the first place, as they sign players for cheap, increase their values and sell them on.

If American owners can help clubs find an identity and they stick to that, it will play a key role in global and financial growth.

That is, perhaps, the beauty of owning sports teams. It is an unsustainable business. It is far more performance-based than other businesses and it goes far beyond simply the money. Within that, there is a key lesson for American owners and how they could take the right steps forward in Italy.