Guest of the microphones of Rai Radio 1 the new president of Lega B, Paolo Bedin has released some statements regarding the future that awaits the cadet series:
“It’s a Serie B championship similar to the one I left in 2018: very balanced, fought, with surprising results and with few points dividing the teams, with the exception of the top two in the standings Sassuolo and Pisa. A championship that proves to be very interesting from a sporting point of view. As regards economic-financial sustainability, it is a championship that is experiencing a particular moment, with many issues to address and with television revenues not confirmed compared to those of the previous four years together with society what the ways out could be to revalorize the championship. We will strengthen the structure of the League, we need our championship to find more and more visibility and consensus”.
The problem of the facilities: “It is an issue that Italian football has been carrying around for many years and which it must try to resolve sooner or later. Also because the presence of fans in the stadium is confirmed every week in all categories. Even yesterday we did 100 thousand spectators, on 26 December we set the second seasonal record with over 120 thousand fans in the stands. There is such a deep-rooted following and passion that we need to intervene so that the stadiums keep up with the times and meet the needs of the spectators, as they are. occurred in Europe in recent years. We obviously have very old facilities: they also cost money for the ordinary and extraordinary maintenance that the municipal administrations have to support. We already have properties that are very difficult to sustain from an economic-financial point of view and the investment for the stadium would represent a further burden. We must find the solution, it must be found together with the institutions, the government and the federation. We must go in this direction, because it is no longer possible to face the next decades with the current systems.”
Italian Cup format, could one proposal be to have the B teams play at home? “Here the tradition and football culture of the individual countries comes into play. Unlike England, Italy has always had a format in which the strongest plays at home. A dialogue can be opened, the relationships must be vertical: we must establish a constant dialogue with the Lega Serie A and C. We have two new governances with great planning capacity and sensitivity: Simonelli was our president of the board of auditors for nine years when we were in Serie B with Abodi and with Marani I worked for a year and a half.”
Mitropa Cup-style European competition between Serie B teams: fantasy or reality? “There is a huge problem with calendars. Maybe it could be an idea to relaunch in the near future.”