Is Serie A on the decline?
The Italian football league, which once hosted the likes of superstars such as Diego Maradona and Cristiano Ronaldo, has been facing many challenges in recent years. Many speculations have arisen about this fall from grace that Serie A has experienced and many fans have identified factors that have contributed to its decline. When we look at Serie A and its top teams, history shows AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Napoli and AS Roma to be the outstanding teams. Thus far, Serie A teams have performed well on the big European stage, with Inter Milan even advancing to the Champions League final in 2023; however, once a league that promised European silverware to the destination of Italy, these standings are simply not enough.
The TV licensing dilemma in Italian football has caused havoc with many fans, with cup and league games in the first league distributed between Sky Sports, TNT, and DAZN. The use of three different distributors racks up the price for viewers wanting to watch their clubs or watch the league, as they must pay for three different channels. To make matters worse for fans, the games are sporadically split between them. This also makes it especially hard for fans of the league who live abroad to watch and keep up with their teams; gone are the days of Serie A playing on Channel 4 for British fans. Many campaigns have been made to even boycott DAZN due to its rising prices and lack of functionality. When DAZN became one of the few channels to offer Serie A, the lowest ratings were provided with a loss of 20-50% of their TV viewership from the previous season.
Another factor that contributed to the decline of Serie A is the stadium ticket pricing. This trend of increasing ticket pricing was picked up by Serie A teams such as Juventus and Inter Milan, who raised their season ticket prices, with the premium version being £3,000 from Juventus and £3,100 for Inter Milan. High ticket pricing can also put people off from watching their teams with the high cost of living happening worldwide; unfortunately, season tickets are at the bottom of the grocery list. According to Football Italia, in the last decade, Serie A has seen a decline of over 30% in overall stadium attendance. Measures such as restrictions on ticket pricing and stadium capacity regulations from the Italian government have also affected ticket sales. These measures include tickets with a lower threshold, which makes it harder for clubs to put the money they make off tickets back into their clubs and is extremely costly for lower league clubs. Another measure that must be followed is the stadium capacity regulations, as issues such as crowd sizes and safety concerns have left many seats empty in stadiums and have greatly affected the atmosphere.
The lack of talent in Serie A is a huge issue as big names are what help generate an audience for the league, and with the loss of names such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, compared to its neighboring leagues, the talent pool is significantly less. The most valued player in Serie A right now is Lautaro Martinez, valued at 110 million pounds. This is contrasted with the Premier League's Erling Haaland, who is valued at 200 million pounds, and La Liga's Vinicius Junior, who's also valued at 200 million pounds. Serie A does not have that big name anymore helping to draw in shirt sales and viewers; this is shown when the league's most valued player doesn't even start for their national team. In a league where the greats such as Maradona and Roberto Baggio once played with then-youngsters Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti, lack of star talent is a contributing factor to its decline. Serie A clubs have fallen behind in the standings of clubs to even sign a flashy new star due to a lack of exposure and lesser wages. More players are looking at the likes of Premier League clubs since now that is where the heat is, and a hefty salary is also quite enticing.
Unfortunately, a league with so much history and depth has been left behind due to the lack of talent, TV licensing dilemmas and rising prices of the ticket prices. For years, the Italian league has failed to address these issues and this has contributed to them being left behind in further development of the league. By addressing such issues that have helped the league become a shadow of its prime past, Serie A can easily regain its position as one of the best leagues in the world.