Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin
Rocco B. Commisso Purchases ACF Fiorentina
6/6/2019 2:31:00 PM | Men's Soccer
Men's soccer alum, Cosmos chairman and Mediacom founder becomes new owner of legendary Serie A club
MILAN — ACF Fiorentina announced Thursday that Columbia men's soccer alumnus Rocco B. Commisso '71SEAS, '75BUS is the team's new owner. Commisso purchased the Italian Serie A club from the Della Valle brothers, who had owned it for the last 17 years.
"As a lifelong follower of Italian soccer, words cannot describe how incredibly honored I am to be part of writing the next chapter in Fiorentina's storied history," stated Commisso. "Florence is known throughout the world for representing the very best of Italy's culture. During my three-year pursuit of this club, I gained a tremendous appreciation for how important La Viola is to the city and its loyal fans."
"I would like to thank the Della Valle family for their stewardship of Fiorentina for the past 17 years," Commisso added. "Diego and Andrea deserve high praise for rescuing this organization from financial ruin. They leave behind a solid foundation upon which to build the club."
Fiorentina ended the 2018-19 season 16th in the Serie A table. They had finished among the top eight in Italian soccer's first tier each of the previous six seasons.
Commisso purchased majority ownership of the New York Cosmos in 2017. The Mediacom Founder, Chairman and CEO was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame this past November in Chicago.
Commisso began his career at Columbia in the fall of 1967 after growing up in Calabria, Italy, and migrating to New York at the age of 12. On the pitch, Commisso went on to earn All-Ivy League honors three times in his career. In his senior season of 1970, Columbia went 9-4 with Commisso captaining the program to its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Upon his 1971 graduation from what is now the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Commisso began his career at Pfizer before returning to Columbia Business School and earning an MBA in 1975. After working at Chase Manhattan Bank and Royal Bank of Canada, he became the Executive VP, CFO, and Director of Cablevision in 1986. Commisso grew Cablevision from the 25th largest cable company in the country to the 8th, with over 1.3 million customers before its merger with Time Warner.
In 1995, Commisso founded Mediacom Communications Corporation, helping to bring television to the smaller and underserved American communities in the Midwest and Southern states. The company went public in 2000 and now has over 4,600 employees, is the fifth largest U.S. cable company serving 1.4 million customers and has annual revenues of $1.9 billion.
Along with his business acumen, Commisso has stayed close to the Columbia program while becoming a fixture in the New York City soccer scene. He served as the Chairman of Friends of Columbia Soccer from 1978-86, before the home venue was named in his honor in 2013. After being honored at the New York City Soccer Gala in 2015, and at the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016, Commisso purchased the New York Cosmos in 2017.
Under Commisso's leadership, the Cosmos organization has been a key partner in Street Soccer USA's efforts to bring a wide range of free programs teaching life skills through the game of soccer to youth and young adults in low-income communities across the country. In addition, Commisso has poured significant personal and corporate resources into funding educational opportunities for young people. Through Mediacom's World Class Scholars Program, September 11th Memorial Scholarship Fund and Entrepreneur of Tomorrow Award, he has provided college scholarships to more than 1,700 students nationwide. In 2014, he established the Rocco B. Commisso American Dream Fund at his high school in the Bronx – Mount Saint Michael Academy – to ensure that the school can continue to recruit and educate deserving young men for generations to come.
"As a lifelong follower of Italian soccer, words cannot describe how incredibly honored I am to be part of writing the next chapter in Fiorentina's storied history," stated Commisso. "Florence is known throughout the world for representing the very best of Italy's culture. During my three-year pursuit of this club, I gained a tremendous appreciation for how important La Viola is to the city and its loyal fans."
"I would like to thank the Della Valle family for their stewardship of Fiorentina for the past 17 years," Commisso added. "Diego and Andrea deserve high praise for rescuing this organization from financial ruin. They leave behind a solid foundation upon which to build the club."
Fiorentina ended the 2018-19 season 16th in the Serie A table. They had finished among the top eight in Italian soccer's first tier each of the previous six seasons.
Commisso purchased majority ownership of the New York Cosmos in 2017. The Mediacom Founder, Chairman and CEO was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame this past November in Chicago.
Commisso began his career at Columbia in the fall of 1967 after growing up in Calabria, Italy, and migrating to New York at the age of 12. On the pitch, Commisso went on to earn All-Ivy League honors three times in his career. In his senior season of 1970, Columbia went 9-4 with Commisso captaining the program to its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Upon his 1971 graduation from what is now the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Commisso began his career at Pfizer before returning to Columbia Business School and earning an MBA in 1975. After working at Chase Manhattan Bank and Royal Bank of Canada, he became the Executive VP, CFO, and Director of Cablevision in 1986. Commisso grew Cablevision from the 25th largest cable company in the country to the 8th, with over 1.3 million customers before its merger with Time Warner.
In 1995, Commisso founded Mediacom Communications Corporation, helping to bring television to the smaller and underserved American communities in the Midwest and Southern states. The company went public in 2000 and now has over 4,600 employees, is the fifth largest U.S. cable company serving 1.4 million customers and has annual revenues of $1.9 billion.
Along with his business acumen, Commisso has stayed close to the Columbia program while becoming a fixture in the New York City soccer scene. He served as the Chairman of Friends of Columbia Soccer from 1978-86, before the home venue was named in his honor in 2013. After being honored at the New York City Soccer Gala in 2015, and at the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016, Commisso purchased the New York Cosmos in 2017.
Under Commisso's leadership, the Cosmos organization has been a key partner in Street Soccer USA's efforts to bring a wide range of free programs teaching life skills through the game of soccer to youth and young adults in low-income communities across the country. In addition, Commisso has poured significant personal and corporate resources into funding educational opportunities for young people. Through Mediacom's World Class Scholars Program, September 11th Memorial Scholarship Fund and Entrepreneur of Tomorrow Award, he has provided college scholarships to more than 1,700 students nationwide. In 2014, he established the Rocco B. Commisso American Dream Fund at his high school in the Bronx – Mount Saint Michael Academy – to ensure that the school can continue to recruit and educate deserving young men for generations to come.
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