Founded in 1907, Calcio Como was enough lucky to play in one of the most evocative places: the Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium , which overlooks the lake that many consider “the most beautiful in the world”. Definitely also thanks to the arrival of George Clooney, in the last 20 years Lake Como has established itself among the soughtest international destinations, becoming a real brand.
In addition to the city and the territory it represents, Calcio Como boasts a first-rate sporting tradition among the clubs in Lombardy, with a nursery which, in the sign of the figure of Mino Favini, has always been judged as good as Atalanta’s one.
With 13 seasons played in “Serie A” and 34 in “Serie B”, Como established itself in the collective imagination of football fans all over Italy as a team that still represents the myth of the football of the past, at the time when all team used to play at 3 pm and there were 90º minuto and the European Cup.
That Golden Age which Diego Armando Maradona remembered quoting the Como Club: «Who loves does not forget. When I talk about current football I have respect because there are very good players, but when I played there were very good teams, not just players. There were no teams that could go to Como and win 5-0».
That’s right, because the blue uniform was worn by players like the unforgettable Borgonovo, Corneliusson, Milton, Fusi, Matteoli, Gigi Meroni, Hansi Muller, Enrico Annoni, Pasquale Bruno, Dirceu, Marco Simone, Lulù Oliveira, Tommaso Rocchi and even 4 World Champions: Vierchwood, Tardelli, Pablito Rossi and Gianluca Zambrotta. The link with the national team went beyond the blue of the uniform, since from 1949 to 1953 Como was named “Italy” because it only lined up Italian players by choice .
The modern era was undoubtedly marked by the passage of Enrico Preziosi who left slamming the door and leaving behind the rubble of a corporate bankruptcy that still burns now and that pairs with the unfortunate management of the mysterious Lady Essien. Two round-trip tickets to hell (footbally speaking, of course) of amateurs who, however, have been the prelude for the arrival of a property that, today, is among the most serious and innovative on the entire national scene.
Sent Entertainment is a content company. The acquisition of Como Club has disrupted the paradigm of the sports club investing in the media. Here’s the opposite: it’s a media company that buys a sports club.
The vision is to build something solid, concrete, done step by step, with logic, consistency and seriousness. Building a business that is sustainable and has a solid reputation. No crazy expenses without a vision, but bring goals that allow to look far. In this sense, CEO Michael Gandler, with his international experience and a top European team, is leading the realization of this vision in concrete terms.
A case history that we consider fundamental to understand the evolution and together the centrality of contents in an era in which everything revolves more and more around them: news, movies, entertainment programs, sports, but also insights and culture.
Content is the element around which the entire value of a brand revolves, whatever reality it represents: a company, a sports club, a public figure and even a territory or an entire nation. This activity can be undertaken only after having effectively implemented the digital disruption process, which means becoming digital, taking advantage of all its opportunities in any kind of business.
So, it happens that scrolling the Facebook news feed I came across an event that immediately brought me back to a scene from Rocky Balboa, the sixth chapter of the legendary saga by Sylvester Stallone.
We talked about it with Goffredo D’Onofrio, director of Como TV.
During the lockdown you distinguished yourself on the web with the initiative called “The Dream Game”, what is it about?
«It is a way to be close to our community. Everyone was missing real football. And that’s why we decided to play with the imagination: we had the legends of Como playing against the greatest players of present and past, at the Playstation. Like all world audiovisual production, we had to change tactics during the lockdown. Listening to our fans means this. There is also another thing to say: The Dream Game has given our sponsors the opportunity to maintain their visibility high and, at the same time, has intercepted a young audience”.
In general how many people attend the match?
“The Como TV virtual stadium hosted almost 2000 people for each match”.
What was the most watched game?
«The game with Milan has been fully of attendees, if we can say so. After all, to see the Tsar Vierchowod marking Van Basten and Corneliusson oustandng is a fine show».
Games are broadcast on your WebTv: how did you structure it?
«Como TV is not exactly a web TV. It is an OTT, an Over The Top platform, as they say in jargon. A proprietary platform that allows us to measure users’ behavior, to understand their tastes, their origin. It also gives us the opportunity to understand what’s wrong. Measurement, therefore, is one of the strengths. From the production point of view, we do “everything in-house” with journalists, operators, editors and producers. We are joined by international media companies too, such as Getty Sports, especially for our national football format “Football in Pictures“».
Do you plan to integrate social networks more closely into your ecosystem for the future?
«Social media are the communication ambassadors of the Club. Both Como TV and Communication work together very closely either in the pre-production of the contents and in the creative part. We often talk about the concept of Media House, as an avant-garde of the Club. Having an instrument like Como TV at home and a digital community attentive to participation like ours is an excellent starting point for developing new broad-spectrum strategies».
All this while waiting to be (finally) able to come back to “analog” stadium in order to give fans an experience that up to the history of this glorious uniform and the beauty that surrounds the “Sinigaglia”.
