AC Milan Adds New NBA-Style Pitchside Seats, Further Accelerating Its Industry-Leading Growth Rate
AC Milan recently debuted a new premium hospitality option called “The Club 1899 Front Row Experience.” Situated between the two benches and right above the tunnel where players come out, it’s easily now the most exclusive ticket at the iconic San Siro.
However, despite AC Milan sharing the stadium with Inter Milan, ACM will be the only club using these seats. Ticketed fans will be allowed to park in the same area as the players. Then, a VIP concierge will bring them to their seats, providing guests with Michelin star quality catered food and beverages in a dedicated private lounge, and pitch access during warmups.
The idea is modeled after what you would see at a Los Angeles Lakers or New York Knicks game, with AC Milan’s most exclusive seats filled with VIP guests.
The 14 front-row seats are currently invite-only, but they will eventually be sold to the public. More importantly, though, these seats provide AC Milan with even more firepower to add to its Serie-A-leading 2 million ticketed fans last year. And it’s just the latest example of AC Milan’s new ownership group transforming the business.
In 2022, American Investment firm RedBird Capital closed a $1.2 billion deal to buy AC Milan. The purchase also included a minority investment in the Italian football club from the New York Yankees and Main Street Advisors, a celebrity-backed investment firm with a limited partner list that includes LeBron James and Drake.
AC Milan’s new owners told fans they would create a virtuous cycle, using revenue to fuel investments that generate better performance, and, in turn, eventually generate new revenue streams for the club that can add billions in enterprise value.
I’ll admit, it sort of sounds like corporate speak. However, the results speak for themselves. AC Milan won the league two years ago, reached the Champions League semifinal last year, and finished second in the league this year. And on the business side, the 125-year-old Italian football club appears to be firing on all cylinders.
AC Milan is the fastest-growing club in Europe for the third consecutive year, according to the European Elite 2024 report. The Italian club’s matchday revenues have doubled year-over-year, too. Their operating revenue increased by 84% over the last five seasons, and AC Milan has even seen its enterprise value grow 35% from 2023.
For context, that means AC Milan is growing faster than any other club globally, including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich.
AC Milan’s 2024 Financial Profile
Standings: #2 in Serie A
Revenue: $405 million (highest in club history)
Operating Income: $81 million
Club Valuation: $1.425 billion (#14 in the world)
It’s difficult to pinpoint one specific decision that could have made such a drastic difference in AC Milan’s business model. The truth is, there are a lot, like AC Milan leveraging its partnership with the Yankees to sign a distribution deal with YES Network just one month after the acquisition, providing them with hours of weekly content — including full-match replays — on the #1 T.V. market in the United States.
It’s evident that AC Milan’s new management team is focusing on the American market, as the club also played several matches in front of sold-out crowds in Los Angeles and Las Vegas last summer, and the signing of U.S. Men’s National Team player Christian Pulisic led to a 266% increase in merchandise sales overnight.
However, good operators consistently make good decisions, and those decisions compound over time, meaning AC Milan’s growth should accelerate going forward.
Take San Siro, for instance. Whether AC Milan renovates its nearly 100-year-old stadium or ends up building a new one, the ownership group has made it clear that they want it to include a surrounding entertainment district. That would A) provide fans with a better experience and B) give ACM more long-term financial upside.
“We’re going to try to bring an American stadium in a live event entertainment campus to Milan,” RedBird’s Managing Partner Gerry Cardinale said at the Business of Football Summit. “Of all the cities in Europe, my premise of a merger partnership between sports and music and the live event for the fans, you would think that Milan would be the perfect place for that. And that’s what we’re going to endeavor to build. That should be not only good for Milan; that should be good for Italy and Serie A.”
This forward-thinking approach sets AC Milan apart. The ownership group has applied this same model to other sports properties, and they understand that premium sports assets are now platform companies with differentiated revenue streams.
Many people refer to this transformation as “the Americanization of sports.” That’s fair, I guess, mainly because U.S. sports teams have proven to monetize their fanbases significantly better than any other sports league globally (e.g., the NFL brings in more annual revenue than the world’s top five soccer leagues combined despite fewer fans).
But AC Milan appears to be taking a slightly different approach, creating unique experiences for the club’s most passionate fans with the understanding that a good on-pitch product creates a more loyal fanbase and also a more sustainable business, too.
Every major sports team will eventually do this, though. AC Milan is currently leading the way in Europe, but soccer’s increasingly large (and global) fanbase potentially provides an even more significant opportunity than many tier 2 assets in America.
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This is so exciting- I wasn’t aware of this development at AC Milan - thank you for informing me and I really think this type of fan engagement and bringing fans even closer to the club etc is the way to go. And clearly it’s working financially for AC Milan. And we know money talks in sports and so how long before AC Milan are competing again for the Champions League and winning it on multiple occasions?
I totally get where they’re coming from with this idea, but I'm not sure it'll fly in Europe. It's a cool concept for NBA courts where fans are right up close to the action. But in football (or soccer), the best seats are usually a bit further back, more in the middle.
Sure, some fans might love being that close to the players - maybe even nabbing a high-five or a shirt. But if you really want to follow the game, being that close could mean you miss out on what's happening on the other side of the pitch.
Don't get me wrong, it's a neat idea and could definitely bring in some extra revenue for the club. Just not sure it's the best bet for a top-notch football experience.