De Laurentiis: ‘Italy should create a Serie Elite with 14 teams from just the big citites’

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis says he would create a ‘Serie Elite’ for Italian teams ‘from cities with a significant number of fans.’ The Partenopei owner spoke with Corriere dello Sport about a potential reform of Serie A and Italian football in the wake of the ECJ’s ruling on the Super League, suggesting Italy could create an improved league of their own:

“I would immediately make a Serie E where ‘E’ stands for elite. Only teams from cities with a significant number of fans. A Palermo that gives economic guarantees can’t make the leap  from Serie D. A Bari that has a fan base of one million two hundred thousand cannot stay where it is.

“While in the first division you find cities of twenty thousand inhabitants that don’t get ten thousand tickets. So I say: to the seven, eight teams that dominate the league table, let’s add another seven that may have the same ambitions. And we end up with 14 places in the elite series. Then two Serie A rounds of twenty teams. And the rest is amateurism, serving as a breeding ground’.

“Promotions? No,  it would be like basketball in America. That has packed arenas. You go to see the Lakers and you can’t find a ticket. Then ask yourself how much they gross. And some people object that the competitive sense would be lacking. Nothing is true.”