The Phoenix shareholder conviction is the difference between how a record-breaking organization works and an indebted and culturally backward organization
In the NBA – as you can read here – the majority shareholder of the Phoenix Suns was suspended for a year and sentenced to a 10 million dollar fine for racist phrases and for a series of ill-treatment (bullying and harassment) against own employees. It all started with an ESN article in November 2021. The NBA commissioned an investigation from a major New York firm. Ten months later, the NBA issued its own orders. And he apologized. Because those behaviors damage the image of the NBA, they ruin the brand. And therefore whoever behaves in that way is harmful and must be punished and removed.
Can you imagine the Serie A suspending a president for a year and fining € 10 million for racist phrases and mistreatment of the employees of his company? Obviously we are beyond science fiction. In Italy it would be unthinkable. Here, Commisso (who is an arch Italian in Italy) can calmly attack the insulted and almost slapped coach in his stadium. Here the sports judge is in fact a useless figure, in the best of cases forced to apply laws that do not provide for any type of punishment. Is Sarri the middle finger to the opponent’s bench? Admonition with warning because he apologized. We could make hundreds of examples.
All of this obviously is the son of the parish dimension of Serie A. Who has no idea what the market economy is, what are the minimum standards of civilization accepted in Europe and in the rest of the world for such a popular sports organization. In Italy, racism is considered teasing. Let’s not talk about the alleged mistreatment of female workers. In Italy we would laugh. We would rise to the cry “these are private matters that do not concern football”.
At the bottom in Italy – we have said it dozens of times – we continue to consider football a sort of extraterritorial planet. And indeed it is. But in the sense that Italian football is progressively detaching itself from the rest of Europe and the world. The Juventus-Salernitana affair was the latest example. A sensational mistake that made evident the race for savings that characterizes Serie A. The referees have said nothing apart from the issue of a childish statement. The president of the FIGC Gravina made statements in the eighties. We have not heard anything from the president of the Lega Serie A but in any case we do not remember his statements worthy of attention from our neurons.
The Italy of football is more and more twisted in on itself. No one is watching us abroad. The average level of the matches is obscene. Coaches are often rude, agitated, unpresentable. Presidents don’t offer better shows. The system is tolerant of racism, sexism, various insults. Should we continue? The new Monza coach (Palladino) with his 38 years is the youngest in Serie A. Nagelsmann is 35 and has been coaching Bayern for a year. The great footballers don’t come here anymore. Serie A is a showcase. A land of passage. There is no money. Neither is culture. Often not even the structures, the stadiums are horrible, going to the game is anything but a joy. In a country attentive to the future, D’Amico’s statements would have opened a discussion, we have fallen into oblivion after ten minutes.
The only thing we would like to point out is that the NBA works economically, it is a very rich company with record turnover. While our Serie A is now stuff for the worst bars in Caracas (with all due respect to Caracas) and it’s poor. So poor that in well over 50% of Serie A matches the minimum standard of cameras are used to save money.
