Gerry Cardinale says he would buy AC Milan again today

Gerry Cardinale would buy AC Milan again if he could make the choice today. At Bloomberg Screentime 2026, the club’s owner and RedBird founder was asked which team he would purchase if given the decision again. “I will be honest. Maybe it is obvious, but I would say Milan,” he said. He described the city as one of Europe’s most important, particularly for fashion, and likened the club to the New York Yankees of Italian football.

Cardinale also set out his investment approach: identify situations that need fixing, then speed up their return to a previous level. “The strategy is to go where there is something to ‘fix’ and do it, accelerating the process to bring them back to where they were before,” he said. He believes European football remains a major investment opportunity, while American sports properties are currently overpriced. He also pointed to a difference between the two continents in how sport and entertainment are viewed. “The challenge in Europe is that they don’t particularly like entertainment when it comes to sport. They don’t accept compromises,” he said, adding: “What I am trying to explain in Europe is that you need entertainment to finance sport.”

That approach also informs his infrastructure plans for Milan. Cardinale said San Siro had been acquired and that a new stadium with 80,000 seats would be built. He also hopes to bring an NBA team to Milan and build an arena there. “We will create a Milan sports and entertainment platform, which should accelerate the growth of Italian football to reach levels similar to the Premier League,” he said.