The Redbird owner is among those invited by the US president to a round table discussion on university sports. He will then fly to Italy: he will be at Milanello on the eve of the match and at San Siro for the clash with Inter.
Please leave the center seat in the VIP stand free. Gerry Cardinale will be at San Siro on Sunday evening for the derby, at the end of a very busy 48 hours. The American media are reporting his presence at a round table on college sports, organized by President Trump and scheduled to take place at the White House in the next few hours. It would be difficult to turn down such a prestigious event, so it is more likely that he will attend and then fly to Milan. Cardinale will in fact be at Milanello on the eve of the match, where he will meet the team, as he has done in the past. He will then be at San Siro for Sunday evening’s derby, a choice that confirms his attitude in recent months: the desire to be physically close to Milan, much more so than in the past.
The timing is significant. Cardinale came to Milan on January 21, when he met the team at Milanello, spoke at length with Giorgio Furlani, met Igli Tare and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, had lunch with Allegri, and greeted the team. The message, at that turbulent time, was clear: a few days before the refinancing at the end of January, RedBird’s idea was not to make any radical changes and to finish the season with the current management. On February 15, he visited Milanello again, just 25 days after his previous visit. On February 16, Cardinale was at the Lega Calcio, his first official appearance with his fellow owners. This derby will be his sixth live at San Siro. The best one? The first, on September 3, 2022: the 3-2 victory with the Scudetto on their chests, when Leao and Giroud ruled the city.
stadium and nba— Cardinale’s presence, of course, does not make a big difference in terms of operations: GC follows Milan news from the United States. Of course, two major issues are of greater interest than others: the stadium and NBA Europe. The new San Siro is strategic for the future of Milan, and these are delicate months. Before the summer, Milan and Inter must reach an agreement on the design of the new stadium, entrusted to two international firms, Manica and Foster + Partners. NBA Europe, on the other hand, is an idea that Cardinale cares deeply about: participating in the new basketball league that the NBA wants to launch in Europe in a year and a half. The plan is to register a franchise with the Milan name and colors, but negotiations on the matter are wide open: the first non-binding offers from the owners are expected by the end of the month.
RedBird and a $94 billion deal— In this context, it is impossible not to consider the news of the last few days. Paramount, a company in which RedBird is a partner, has reached a $110 billion (€94 billion) agreement to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2026 and has been one of the big stories in American finance, with Paramount and Netflix battling it out for the final bid. Winning the derby would not be a bad way to celebrate.
