Two games in 66 hours for AC Milan: How Serie A scheduling works

Two games in 66 hours, is that really allowed? AC Milan’s recent schedule has sparked heated discussions on social media, with everything from conspiracy theories to calls for improved regulations. We can at least get behind the latter, but why did this happen in the first place?

For many years, the Serie A schedule has been a hot topic among calcio faithfuls. Between an increasingly packed season and a willingness to increase the league’s visibility, there have inevitably been some clashes. Player health doesn’t seem to be on top of the agenda, let’s put it that way, but it’s also clear that the Lega Serie A have a more difficult job than ever.

Just take Inter as an example. In addition to the league, they have also featured in the Champions League, the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana this season. Add the inauguration of the Winter Olympics at San Siro to the equation and you have a really thorny situation. It puts Milan’s hectic run at the start of the year to shame, but we have every right to be upset still.

Despite participating in fewer competitions, which would seem like a perfect solution, the Rossoneri have been on the receiving end of some questionable scheduling. To understand why, and if there was actually some foul play involved, we have to understand how the process of assigning TV times works in the first place. So let’s take a look!

Understanding TV rights and scheduling

Before starting with the basics, if you haven’t already, I would recommend reading last week’s bonus regarding the TV rights revenue. More specifically, I took a closer look at how Gerry Cardinale (Milan owner) and Aurelio De Laurentiis (Napoli owner) want to improve the situation. You will soon find that there are some parallels between the two topics.

Anyway, when scheduling conflicts arise in the top five leagues, you often hear that TV rights are to blame. You know, the leagues want to get as much visibility as possible and that sometimes means scheduling games in uncomfortable or unusual times, like when Milan and Inter played the derby at 15:00 in the 2016-17 season. Of course, this was to appeal to the Chinese audience.

However, an important distinction to make is that the TV rights holders haven’t exactly decided the times themselves. Instead, it’s Lega Serie A that put together packages when the TV rights are up for grabs, outlining clearly when games are played each round. For example, in the tender (bidding) invitation last time out, it looked like this:

Some changes were eventually made to this, introducing a game on Friday, as you shall see below.

In other words, Lega Serie A decided that they will maximise their visibility with these days and kick-off times. The late ones have definitely been useful for Serie A as the Premier League games are usually played during the day/afternoon. On the other hand, you don’t exactly involve all continents with a 20:45 kick-off, so England definitely has a cultural advantage here.

So, what does the TV rights holders actually influence? Head over to SempreMilan Insider to read the article in full, as we take a look at how Milan ended up getting two games in 66 hours (and how scheduling works in general). You can just click the button below.