#mikepiazza #reggiana #italia #calcio #football
American ownership in football isn’t rare in 2025—nearly half the Premier League is American-owned, with many investors reaping profits despite their clubs’ performances. But most of them… aren’t Mike Piazza.
In 2016, the Hall of Fame catcher bought Serie C side A.C. Reggiana 1919. Two years later, the club was bankrupt, expelled from Italian football, and left in ruins. This is the story of how a baseball Hall of Famer destroyed a football club.
MAIN ARTICLES CITED:
◘ The Passion of Mike Piazza: How the midlife crisis of a baseball Hall of Famer led to the demise of a 100-year-old Italian soccer club – https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/721275/2018/12/18/the-passion-of-mike-piazza-how-the-midlife-crisis-of-a-baseball-hall-of-famer-led-to-the-demise-of-a-100-year-old-italian-soccer-club/
◘ The destruction of Reggiana, a proud club from a historic football region – https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/08/08/the-destruction-of-reggiana-a-proud-club-from-a-historic-football-region/
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◘ “Exhibition Match [Success]” by Tomoaki Hirono, Takashi Shirayama, Mitsuhiro Furuya, Kamara Kimura, Keiichiro Obayashi (MLB Power Pros)
◘ “Unlimited Passion” by Tadayoshi Makino (Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions Original Soundtrack)
◘ “Track 5/Playoffs Ending” by Graeme Coleman (FIFA Soccer 96)
◘ “Chaos” by Shinsekai Gakkyoku Zatsugidan, ROKUJI (Battle Spirits Art of Fighting SOUND ACTION)
◘ “Cyclops Stage” by Yuki Iwai & Yuko Kadota (X-MEN vs. STREET FIGHTER)
◘ “Get’n Up (New Women Fighters Team Theme)” by SNK Sound Team (THE KING OF FIGHTERS ’96 ARRANGE SOUND TRAX)
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◘ “BRIEFING I” by NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. [Keiki Kobayashi, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, Junichi Nakatsuru, Hiroshi Okubo] (ACE COMBAT ZERO THE BELKAN WAR ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK)
◘ “A Tragic Decision (Definitive Edition ver.)” by ACE+ (Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Original Soundtrack)
◘ “Immediate Threat” by ACE (Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Original Soundtrack OST)
◘ “Sad Brothers” by Seiji Yokoyama (Saint Seiya Music Collection TV ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK)
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◘ “VAGABOND” by Tsuneo Imahori (Hajime no Ippo original soundtrack FINAL ROUND)
◘ “The Words That Came From Deep Inside My Gut” by Hiroaki Tsutsumi (Jujutsu Kaisen Original Television Soundtrack)
◘ “Match Results” by Tomoaki Hirono, Takashi Shirayama, Mitsuhiro Furuya, Kamara Kimura, Keiichiro Obayashi (MLB Power Pros)
◘ “Pro Dia Nascer Feliz” by Barão Vermelho
26 Comments
FURY! NO PITTSBURGH STINKS! THIS VIDEO WAS PERFECT UNTIL THEN!
Good vid Fury!
Absolutely based behavior on Mike's part
This was a good video, keep up the good work
Awesome video man. Never heard of this story before.
As an italian, saying Reggiana was "destroyed" by this guy is quite an overstatement.
Reggiana was the 1st ever club in Italy to possess a private stadium, went full bankrupt because of that when it was in Serie A in the 90s, and that same stadium 20 years later was sold to Sassuolo.
Reggiana keeps struggling today, but still it goes up-and-down between 2nd and 3rd division
Amazing work man, great research and presentation. Unfortunately with the brief exception of Elliot and a miraculous Maldini scudetto with AC Milan, no American owner has been good for any Italian club.
While our boy Piazza was really bad there's just been a common thread that connects all these owners, and that's their absolute refusal to let anyone in to advise them on how to manage a football club in Italy. Which is a shame because there's a ton of competent people there that given the financial resources can do just that. These guys are only interested in winning as a vanity project though and being the rich guys that put the money while an Italian claims glory for their management just isn't appetizing.
Olha, os Mets vão ser os Met. Não estou surpreso, já que a franquia em que ele jogou era de propriedade de pessoas que perderam tudo em um esquema Ponzi.
Another banger, we love to see it.
team always sucked, he tried. and he left. same situation the teams been in for 40 years 😂
This video is amazing but when I found out he used music from the anime los caballeros del zodíaco (Saint Seiya) it’s just got better 🔥
I enjoyed the video but man, you're bringing New York Mets fans into this by calling out their boy for his "technically it wasn't steroids" usage.
What do you expect from a MAGA?
Only a New York Met could bring suffering this intense to a century old team in just 20 months 😂😂😂😂
The guy ploughed cash into the club, clearly fan attendance and commercial viability wasn’t there
Absolutely brilliant…….you should do a deep dive on Tony Khans comedic reign at Fulham
Top tier content my man, well done!
The Piazza clip straight to the TK clip. What a time to be alive.
Considering his vile actions it"s no wonder that he"s a MAGGOT !
Piazza 👎🤬😡
Phoenix club buying original club assets out of administration and resurecting the original name also happened with Bury though they haven't risen back up the pyramid
Investing in a business you don't understand is a recipe for disaster sport or not, he belatedly realized to focus on the sport he knew
Yep, and he’s still involved in Italian baseball…the “dirigenti “ of Reggio saw a sucker in Piazza. How “furbo” of the Italians to take advantage of this insecure guy. Hopefully the same doesn’t happen with Italian baseball. 🙏🏼🇮🇹⚽️⚾️
Azumanga Daioh and wrestling references in my niche but interesting football-related video ? I'm so in.
That's 1 hell of a quote from the late great Scott Hall Razor Ramon. That quote gave me goosebumps on my spine
Baseball + Italy. I'm seated