AS Roma President James Pallotta has brought an "American vision" to Italian football.GETTY IMAGES
Italian football teams would benefit from the vision of an American exec to realize the potential of sport combining with the entertainment industry, according to Warner Bros. Senior VP, Distribution & New Theatrical Ventures Thomas Ciampa.
He pointed to the recent example of Serie A side AS Roma and its deal with Warner Bros. for the '18-19 season. The entertainment company is collaborating with the club on a number of projects. The two have already come together to create a promotional idea for superhero film "Venom."
Ciampa was speaking at Wednesday’s Leader's Sport Business Summit in London, where he said that the AS Roma-Warner Bros. deal might only have been possible because club President James Pallotta is American and has brought an "American vision" into Italian football. Ciampa said that too many Italian football clubs lacked vision as to how expand their brands and drive up revenues.
He added, "Unfortunately for many [Italian] teams, it’s still a soccer team. I believe what Roma wants is to elevate the soccer team to be a global brand. And also the city helps. It’s a great marriage between a great city and the team."
Ciampa was speaking on a panel with Jeffrey Godsick, Exec VP of Worldwide Partnerships & Brand Management at Sony Pictures. Godsick said he could see similar deals between entertainment properties and sport teams. "We are always looking to have long-term relationships with partners on any level," Godsick said. "When we have a long-term relationship we are not just spending all the focus on the execution. We are actually spending time to learn about each other. What are the goals that are common?" Godsick said that the company actively pursues about 70% of its partners, while 30% were partners that had pitched themselves to Sony.
