More than music could football and so, even if the matter is not yet official, the Sanremo Festival risks moving forward by a week, no longer from 4 to 8 but from 11 to 15 February 2025.
The Coppa Italia is forcing the Italian song festival to 'relocate' itself.
To avoid family arguments over the management of the remote control and, more seriously, a potential reduction in ratings and consequently in advertising revenues, Viale Mazzini is considering postponing the event . The CEO of Rai Roberto Sergio raised the alarm in recent days, criticizing the decision of the Football League to coincide the calendar of the Cup, a Mediaset exclusive, with the Sanremo event.
From the League's point of view, there are no alternatives to that week, because, considering the dates of the new Champions League matches, the calendar is already full in that period . An official decision has not yet been communicated by Rai.
The appropriate assessments are being made, with the calculations in hand, to understand what the impact of the various competitions could be on the Festival audience.
The Italian Cup, broadcast free-to-air by Mediaset, could offer matches between top teams, with a significant following of fans, but the following week, the one in which the event should be postponed, there are still the European Cups, including the Champions League and Europa League , even if on pay.
In any case, the presentation of the Rai schedules is scheduled for July 19th in Naples and the official announcement is expected by that date , perhaps precisely in that context. In the event of a slippage, the organizational machine must be set in motion immediately.
As Il Secolo XIX and La Stampa underline today, in the city the modification is considered a done deal. The new mayor of Sanremo Alessandro Mager, who just the other day had a first informal conversation with Rai, did not want to comment. But, since this is a substantial change in the organizational regulation and not related to the singers, according to consolidated practice the issue will still have to be brought to the attention of the municipal administration.
Last night the news of the week's postponement began to travel around the city and the first consequence was the hunt to change reservations which, in general, are made well in advance.
It is true that there are still more than six months to go but hotels and holiday homes, which are fully booked for the week of the event, will have to reorganize all attendance, with the risk of someone finding themselves without a room in the case of bookings already made by others for the week of February 11th to 15th.
(Unioneonline/vl)