Toward a museum-like Super League?

A hypothetical parallel that may be crazy (and probably is) but that I want to take you to “see.” I therefore ask you to make a little effort to immerse yourself in it without prejudice.

Close your eyes.

Imagine being the Director of one of the 12 most important museums in Europe. Strong brands to mean, appealing to the mass market.

You have the opportunity to immediately receive a fee equal to 6 years of entrance fees (with which you used to be able to keep the facility going in the past and which are worth 20 percent of revenue each year), solve all the economic problems that have arisen from the pandemic, and have hay in the barn to relaunch your institution.

In return for this, however, you must:

• Completely change the business model;
• undermine nearly 160 years of museum history;
• Betray the ideals of your current visitors;
• Ditch the partners you work with (policy and tour operators);
• Boycott any relationships with other museums with low status.
  

Would you?

This is what is happening in the world of European soccer in the last few hours.

Large vs. small

I try to explain it, simplifying but not oversimplifying.

Europe’s 12 top-ranked soccer clubs, those with the most important history, have decided to create a parallel Super League, only between themselves and a few others (up to 20 teams).

To do this, they decided to turn their backs on 160 years of the sport’s history, highly give a damn about the “few” millions of European fans in order to reach out to Asian, American ones and undermine the future of all the smaller clubs that survive thanks mainly to the TV rights generated by the blazon of the 12.

Members of the Super League, with a potential pool of one billion fans, say they deserve it. Effectively in their possession are the strongest players on the globe, the “masterpieces” of football art, and they claim that this will give everyone money to spend.

On the other, the clubs left out and most (almost all at the moment) of the fans are revolting, convinced that soccer belongs to everyone and certain that passion for one thing is enough to keep the current system going.

Where we are going

The comparison I made to you is very drawn and concerns issues that have very little in common (I said little, not nothing).

However, you have to be prepared and aware for the fact that the thinking being done at the higher levels could lead to a change in the pre-pandemic dynamics at any moment.

The questions you should start asking yourself:

• will a sustainable system be built together between large and small? Or will the former become more aggressive, increase investment to take what little tourism market will be available and completely cut off the lesser-known institutions causing them to close down permanently?

• will there be better management of resources to foster growth (marketing, education, digital transformation, training) with cost-benefit analysis? Or will those who manage to take the grant money build cathedrals in the desert and museum playgrounds with no logical sense or future?

• will they go into more dialogue with their visitors to understand what they actually want/prefer? Or, from the heights of their own knowledge, will theorists continue to preach the same mantra: “We have always done it this way. Why change?”

I don’t know what will happen. The only thing I can tell you is that next May 13-14-15, at the Italian Museum Summit, we will try to build a new museum world, independent of the dynamics known to date.

And I would like to have you on board:

The world does not wait.

PS the soccer project fell apart a few hours after its inception due to “popular will.” Will this hiatus last?