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Serie A breaks with tradition, hosts holiday games
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For a competition that has always held holidays as sacrosanct, Serie A is taking a big break from tradition this week.
Following the successful example of the English Premier League, the Italian league will play Serie A and Italian Cup matches over four of the next five days.
鈥淭he concept is simple. Professional soccer is an entertainment product and offering it during the holiday period is a great opportunity for those in charge,鈥 AS Roma general manager Mauro Baldissoni said. 鈥淭he Premier League has shown that it works to offer this product during the holidays 鈥 both in terms of stadium attendance and international TV viewership.鈥
The opening two matches of the week will be held in the country鈥檚 two biggest stadiums: Lazio hosts Fiorentina in Rome鈥檚 Stadio Olimpico today in the Italian Cup quarterfinals, then it鈥檚 a Milan derby at the San Siro in another quarterfinal a day later.
On Friday, in Serie A, league leader Napoli visits Crotone. On Saturday, there鈥檚 a slate of nine league matches, beginning with Fiorentina vs AC Milan, and concluding with evening matches featuring Inter Milan hosting Lazio and Juventus visiting Hellas Verona.
More Cup matches are scheduled for January 2 and 3, then Serie A again on January 5 and 6.
Veteran coach Fabio Capello believes the scheduling is already problematic because of too many night matches 鈥 starting with the week鈥檚 first game, Lazio-Fiorentina, at 9pm local time.
鈥淚t鈥檚 too late,鈥 Capello told La Repubblica. 鈥淭hat means leaving the stadium at midnight in the cold with many people having to work the next day. If you鈥檙e going to play on a holiday, you鈥檝e got to start earlier and help the fans out.鈥
In the past, Serie A鈥檚 winter break began before Christmas and lasted until after January 6, which is Epiphany, a major Catholic feast day and the end of the holiday period in Italy.
This season, the break will be from January 7-20.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 change much for the players,鈥 Baldissoni said. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l still have a break in January.鈥
Still, the Italian schedule has not gone quite as far as the EPL, which has no break at all and games on December 26, 27, 28, 30 and 31, plus January 1, 2, 3 and 4 鈥 meaning teams will play three matches in little more than a week.
鈥淚n England, the last match on Boxing Day (today) starts in late afternoon. It would be good not to just copy but also improve on the copied product,鈥 Capello said.
But for a league struggling with attendance, fan violence and racism, Italy is providing an opportunity for families to go to the stadium while school is on break.
An average of 22,177 fans attended Serie A matches last season, ranking the league fourth in Europe behind the Bundesliga, EPL, and La Liga.
The German, Spanish, and French leagues still won鈥檛 play during the last week of the year. But other sports like the National Basketball Association and the National Football League do.
鈥淣ot taking advantage of this period and leaving it to other leagues means losing competitively in the international market so we鈥檝e decided to get involved during this period,鈥 Baldissoni said.
It鈥檚 a timely move, considering the Italian game is in dire need of a boost after the Azzurri鈥檚 failure to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in six decades. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a way to try and boost the brand value of Serie A,鈥 Baldissoni said.
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