Juventus sets stock market goal

Juventus deputy chief Bettega, striker Alex Del Piero and MD Antonio Giraudo (left to right) at the Milan IPO presentation

By CNN's Jim Boulden

TURIN, Italy (CNN) -- Italian football giant Juventus is playing in a new league with its flotation on the Milan stock exchange.

Shareholders oversubscribed for Thursday's launch, but that's no surprise to the club's management.

Juve, "the Old Lady of Turin," has made a profit for the past five years and has lower costs than its leading Series A rivals.

With an estimated 17 million fans across Europe, it says shareholders will be buying into football history and a solid business.

But it is a tough market. Football clubs have generally performed poorly on stock exchanges. Soaring salaries and multi-million dollar debts have meant shareholders have had little to cheer.

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"To date the experience has not been a good one," says Oliver Butler of Soccer Investor.

"Many, if not all the clubs that have floated are now at a position where their share price is below their IPO price, some just above the price."

However, floatation may lead to tighter financial discipline, says Butler.

"What is good about becoming a public limited company for a lot of the English clubs is it has forced them to clean up their acts financially and to clean up their act as a commercial enterprise -- and to become more professional in the way they are run."

Juve's vice chairman, Roberto Bettega, says balance sheets are healthy and the world's fifth richest club is in good shape.

"Now is a different time, is a different game, a different business. We are very good team. And when I say team I mean the management of this club," Bettega says.

Juventus, twice winner of the European Cup, is transforming itself into a brand, developing its stadium for other uses -- including entertainment and leisure activities -- and building businesses in television and entertainment.

In fiscal year 2001, more than half of the club's revenue -- 56.2 percent -- came from the sale of TV and radio broadcasting rights, deals to transmit news and images to mobile phones via WAP and SMS technology, and Champions League Cup revenues from the European football parent UEFA.