Lazio supremo Claudio Lotito has accused the media of ambushing him in the wake of a storm surrounding the Aquile president following comments he made on the sale of television rights for Serie A.
La Repubblica published the phone call recording between the top flight’s representative at the FIGC and a Lega Pro counterpart in which he alleged that the president of the league [Maurizio Beretta] does not wield the power he does when it comes to brokering deals and more before incredibly insisting that he does not want the likes of ‘unfashionable’ Carpi, Latina and Frosinone to win promotion as it will not help him when trying to sell Serie A.
In the phone call, Lotito can be heard saying to Pino Iodice of Ischia Isolaverde: “Do you think that Beretta decides things in Serie A? Do you know what he decides? Nothing. And the president? In his year and a half, nothing!
“If Carpi come up… if teams come up who aren’t worth a cent then in two or three years we will not have a penny. I’ve done well selling the TV rights. We have brought in €1.2 billion thanks to my skill because I found an agreement between Sky and Mediaset which nobody else had did in 10 years.
“If in three years time we have Latina and Frosinone, who would buy those rights? They don’t know where Frosinone is!”
However, he has come out strongly in defence himself, believing he was making a valid point and that he is the victim of the situation.
“If people read my comments in sense, then what I said will appear logical. I have pushed for these reforms many times in public,” stated Lotito. “When my statements are used in this way, as they were by the person who organised this ambush and the media wanting to amplify the situation, then it creates a false situation.
“I talked about finding new sources of revenue and not being so reliant on the television revenue. Resources drop when you deal with a club that have a limited fan base.
“I stand by what I said. I didn’t put pressure on anybody and was only raising the issue.”
