Cristiano Ronaldo signing reintroduces Juventus to football’s elites
By John Vaccaro
They’re back and they’re here to stay.
The purchase of Cristiano Ronaldo has firmly entrenched Juventus in Europe’s upper echelon for the first time since Calciopoli. This move has finally earned Juve the respect they’ve been working towards since their return to Serie A.
Ronaldo’s talent is immense, but it is his popularity that will make the biggest impact. Juventus already had one of the most talented teams in the world.
According to the sports books in Vegas, Juventus only has a slightly better chance to win the Champions League now than they did last year.
However, they will have significantly more eyes on every match they play in the Champions League this year. They are suddenly a must-see team and that comes with some perks.
The Rodney Dangerfield of European Football
The football world viewed Juventus as a team on the outside of the top tier of European football. That changed with the signing of Ronaldo.
Since signing Ronaldo, Juventus has gone from seen as unable to sign top talent to suddenly linked with every major name available.
Juve has been linked to moves for Marcelo, Aleksander Golovin, Diego Godin, and Paul Pogba just this week. These rumors would have been shrugged off a week ago because of the involvement of “bigger clubs”.
Juventus has won seven consecutive scudetti and made 2 Champions League final appearances in the last 4 years.
Bayern, PSG, and the big Spanish and English clubs continued to command more respect than Juve. Signing Ronaldo has changed this perception and has the potential to plant Juve in Europe’s upper echelon.
The exposure he will bring to Juve and Serie A as a whole will give Juventus the financial capabilities to entrench themselves at the top of European football.
Nouveau Riche
Since building their own stadium Juventus has had one major thing holding them back financially, Serie A’s tv rights.
Despite recent Champions League success from its teams, Serie A hasn’t been able to command the money the other big leagues do for their tv rights. Their tv deals have also failed to bring exposure to the league. That looks like it is about to change.
Serie A’s tv rights couldn’t even draw bids when bundled with the FA Cup last week. Now that Ronaldo has joined the league there are reports of bids coming in from both ESPN and Turner Broadcasting.
Potential deals with major American companies would be a massive help to Italy’s teams. The increased revenue from the tv rights and the added exposure the teams will receive through either of these companies will provide a huge boost to every team in Italy.
Juventus will be the biggest beneficiary. Whoever wins the bidding will want Ronaldo on television every chance they get.
The increased revenue from the American tv deal and more lucrative sponsorships will give Juve a greater ability to go head-to-head financially with the rest of the big teams across Europe.
Juve’s current sponsorship deals don’t compare to those of Barcelona and Manchester United. That will change when it comes time to negotiate new deals.
This sudden influx of money and influence will give Juve negotiating power they haven’t had since the early 2000s.
The Cristiano Ronaldo Effect
The Bianconeri have had a strong run of recent success in pursuit of regaining the respect it once held. In spite of all of that success, it took the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo to finally get that respect back.
Juve finally has the clout to build a team strong enough to win a Champions League trophy after 23 years. Ronaldo won’t be the final piece needed to achieve that. He’s the piece that will make it possible to bring the rest together.
Next: Could Zinedine Zidane return to Juventus?
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