Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis stated in an interview that European football must learn from American sports culture. Passion is important, but passion alone cannot sustain a business.

On one side is the world where he was born; on the other is a different world that later became his. As De Laurentiis navigates between film and football, he draws on a long career where anecdotes become strategy and the past is projected onto dimensions that blur reality and fiction. It evokes "Blade Runner": I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Rome, Teha Club, a club for entrepreneurs and executives under The European House - Ambrosetti. Here they discuss transformation, new opportunities, and entertainment, with people at the center, as if between a stage and VIP boxes, or more aptly, in the penalty area, as De Laurentiis traces his life's trajectory.

Business

As is often said in Los Angeles: business is business. "What we discuss here is how an entrepreneur must operate when the world is changing faster and faster. Today, you can watch anything by sitting on your sofa with a phone or television. We must start from this point. I have been involved in football for over two decades; it was the same when I bought Napoli in 2004. For years, we thought: if I make a good film, people will come to watch it; if I build a strong team, people will follow me. Today, this can no longer be taken for granted. When making a film, I am not only competing with other films; I am also competing with Netflix. It is exactly the same when Napoli plays. On the field, we must beat Inter, Juventus, and AC Milan."

Hard Work Rooted in Passion

It has been 22 years since September 2004, and De Laurentiis speaks of these two worlds, similar yet both transformed. "When I bought Napoli, I did not need to convince people to love this team. First, I had to understand how a club with such a massive fan base could go bankrupt. I also had to ensure it would never happen again. We started over from Serie C1. In 2007, we returned to Serie A. Then we consistently qualified for European competition, reached the Champions League, and won Serie A titles in 2023 and 2024. I did not create that passion. My task was to build a sustainable business around it. Because passion, even in Serie C, can fill a stadium. But passion alone cannot pay bills, buy players, build training facilities, or run a club. Value must be created. A film that costs 100 million euros is not necessarily better than one that costs 10 million euros. A player worth 100 million euros is not necessarily ten times better than a player worth 10 million euros."

Acknowledging Mistakes

The technical and financial aspects are sound, the club is healthy and winning, but according to De Laurentiis, nothing is perfect: "You must know how to identify talent. Then you also need the courage to make decisions. Sometimes these decisions are unpopular. In 20 years, of course, we have made mistakes. Players, coaches, management, investments—all have involved mistakes. A stable club can recover from them; a fragile one can be destroyed by them. Italian football always talks about how much money a president spends. I wish people would sometimes ask what did he create? What organization did he leave behind? What capabilities? What revenue? What assets? Because spending money is easy; creating value is far more difficult."

The Next Stadium

He casually raises the stadium issue, which has always been a challenge for De Laurentiis, especially after seeing American venues during the World Cup: "A stadium is not just a pitch surrounded by stands. A stadium is part of the show. It must be beautiful, comfortable, modern, and technologically advanced. It must have restaurants, shops, and services. It must make families want to stay there for several hours. Because if I ask someone to leave their home, drive, find parking, spend money, and then give me four or five hours of their day, I must give them something in return. I cannot say: You are a fan, so you must come. No. I must make them feel their time was well spent. European football must learn from American sports culture. We do not need to copy their model. Our history is different, our competitions are different, and Europe's relationship with its territory is unique. But we must learn from their way of thinking. A stadium must be an experience. Look at what American leagues do. The NBA, NFL, MLB: they are massive commercial machines. They operate around product, distribution, sponsorship, and international markets, turning stars into household names. They serve their teams and create value. And where does all this ultimately lead? To club revenue, to franchise value. Do we really want to compare this with our leagues? I hope the league will help me make Napoli more valuable. To do that, it must first make the entire league more valuable."

Let's Talk

So rather than daydream, it is better to discuss seriously: "We must be bold enough to reconsider every aspect of the football product. First, the game itself—match duration and stoppages. Rules that have existed for a hundred years do not mean they are sacred and cannot be changed. If we want to win back younger fans, we need to ask what is driving them away. Take halftime, for example. Fifteen minutes. Why can't we discuss shortening it, or even eliminating it? People at the stadium feel the atmosphere with others and wait. But what about children at home? You stop the game for 15 minutes and expect them to sit there and wait? They will pick up their phones, go back to PlayStation, or find something else to do. And then you try to restart the second half."

The Challenge

At 77 years old, he hardly shows his age, because football, even more than his film career, is pure adrenaline for De Laurentiis: "In 2004, my task was to rebuild a business around existing passion. Today's challenge is different. We must continue to deserve this passion while also reaching those who do not yet know us, especially the younger generation."

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