rewrite this title Serie A confirms intention to hold competitive games in United States

Serie A “would love” to host a competitive game overseas in the United States in the race to be a “trendsetter” for European football, ahead of the likes of the Premier League and La Liga.

Italy’s top flight was the world’s elite domestic football league in the 1980s and 1990s, a title that has long since moved on and is now routinely fought over by its English and Spanish counterparts.

But while Europe’s biggest clubs have made the United States a home from home in pre-season thanks to the enormous and growing market, a ‘regular season’ league game has never been played.

It has been a talking point for the Premier League for years, but something that has never materialised, largely due to logistical challenges and the expected fan backlash. Meanwhile, plans for Barcelona’s recent December clash against Atletico Madrid to be played in Miami were shelved.

“We would love to do it,” Serie A commercial and marketing director Michele Ciccarese explained to a group of reporters invited to the league’s American base in New York.

“We are working in order to potentially do it, but there are barriers that we need to overcome with the right strategy and with the support of the clubs, without forgetting that players are players.”

One of the main things that has stopped an overseas Premier League game from being staged is regular matchgoing fans losing out. Ciccarese is adamant that such fans have to be considered and it couldn’t be a big derby game that is given to a US audience, for example.

“It should be done in a way that makes sense for the club without forgetting the fans. You cannot play a Milan derby in America because the fans in Italy will get very upset as that game has a big meaning in Italy, so we have to play in a way that is respectful of our audience,” he said.

“It’s always a race to try to be the trendsetter, because then the followers come and the trendsetter [gets] more benefits, more potentially, in terms of revenues. We need approval of the Italian federation, UEFA, then it goes up to FIFA, and then it goes back to the local community.”

Serie A could be well placed to capitalise on big name USMNT players currently in the league, more so than rival competitions. Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah both star for AC Milan, with Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie at Juventus. Gianluca Busio is also playing for Venezia.

Other sports have successfully exported games to a foreign location to engage new markets. The NFL has held regular season games outside the United States annually since 2007, multiple games from 2013, staged in London, Mexico City, Munich, Berlin, Frankurt and Sao Paulo. Further games in 2025 and 2026 will also head to Madrid, Dublin and Melbourne.

The NBA first experimented with overseas audiences as early as 1990 by taking games to Japan, and, since 2011, regular season matchups have often taken place in London, Mexico City and Paris. Major League Baseball has also revived a programme of international games, first staged in 1996, in recent years to go to London, Mexico City, Monterrey, Seoul and Tokyo since 2019.

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