MP & Silva President Riccardo Silva said that avoiding going "head-to-head with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo" and not stopping "for Christmas" would "make drastic improvements" in the slumping Serie A, according to Andrew Dampf of the AP. Silva: "The bottom line is that the Spanish league is more interesting than the Italian league." His remedies involve moving more Serie A matches to Friday or Monday nights, "starting them earlier than the Spanish games, and playing over the Christmas and New Year's holidays when TV viewership soars." He said, "It's the best period for viewing. People are home and they don't know what to do. If you want to be viewed, do these types of things. Try not to clash with the Spanish league. Play at Christmas time. It's not so difficult to understand." In October, MP & Silva renewed a three-year deal with Serie A worth an average of €185M ($210M) per season -- a 60% increase over the previous deal. For a league "beset by an exodus of top players, falling attendance, fan violence and racism, that's a lot of money." So it is "no wonder Silva is frustrated." Referring to the league's two-week holiday break, Silva said, "I took my kids to see Tottenham-Chelsea on Jan. 1 while our (Italian) players were sitting in the sun" (AP, 1/27).
