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PALLOTTA: ROMA STRUGGLING FINANCIALLY
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Roma president James Pallotta.
While AS Roma dominate Serie A and lead the Scudetto race on the pitch, it seems as though there are some serious financial problems off the pitch plaguing the capital city side. Just yesterday, the club’s American chairman James Pallotta announced that Roma are nearly €20,000,000 in debt and that their financial position is not expected to improve all too much even with potential prize money come season’s end.
Beginning before Francesco Totti was put in charge of Roma and continuing after his enstatement, the Giallorossi made a large number of dealings in the transfer market, first raking in over €75,000,000 with the sales of Marquinho and Erik Lamela. They then went out on a spending spree on many new players to reform the squad, but in the end came close to breaking even; transfers are not the problem.
Instead, it seems to be a combination of paying off debts and very high wages. Roma are €55,000,000 in net debt and are currently under agreement to pay off this debt with installments of nearly €1,500,000 each month for the next few years, which has certainly not helped matters. Wages have also accounted for roughly €6,000,000 a month, further crippling Roma’s finances.
Some players may have to be sold this coming summer if the Giallorossi cannot expand their financial power via prize money of Serie A and Champions League money from next season, should they qualify. Roma is currently below the acceptable deficit as implied by Financial Fair Play regulations but should be able to pass as long as chairman James Pallotta is willing to put in some more funds.
There are sad instances of financial problems and debt ruining clubs all over the world; Portsmouth in England have slowly fallen into nothingness, while Rangers in Scotland have only now returned to the third tier of domestic football. In Italy itself historically big teams such as Inter Milan suffer with severe debt that cripples their firepower in the market.
Francesco Totti, Director of Football Walter Sabatini, and James Pallotta seem to have a plan for the future, however. Pallota said after stating his club’s financial issues, “There is a path we have to recovery. Francesco, Walter, and I have devised a long term plan to get more profit and stay within FFP regulations. The most important parts of these are playing Champions League football to keep the money coming in and perhaps trimming the wage bill in the coming years.”
While this news may be worrisome to fans of Roma, fans of the Giallorossi will be most focused on trying to secure their first Scudetto in over a decade this season as they lead the league with only 11 matches left to play.
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