As it turns out, famous Canadian artist Drake was Venezia’s savior last season, helping the club raise around €40 million and save it from bankruptcy.
Venezia spent the 2021–22 season in Italy’s top flight, their first in Serie A in 20 years, but to stay afloat, the club took on heavy debt and spent around €20 million on transfer fees at the start of this season.
Ultimately, Venezia was relegated back to Serie B in the spring of 2022, where the club remained for two more seasons before being promoted back to the top division in the play-offs in early June.
It was revealed that Venezia needed €10 million immediately last season to keep the club afloat and another €30 million was needed to keep the club going in the future.
How Drake saved Venezia from bankruptcy
Matte Babel, Drake’s Chief Brand Officer, explained to GQ Italia how the surprising partnership came about.
Babel’s acquaintance Brad Katsuyama, a fellow Canadian and investor in Venice, certainly benefited him in this regard.
“I got a call from Brad, co-owner of Venezia and a good friend of mine,” Babel told GQ Italia.
“He explained the problem to me very simply: Venezia has to raise ten million euros in a few weeks and then at least 30 million euros in a few months, otherwise the club will go bankrupt.
“Venezia is an incredible city and Venezia has always been a special club. I spoke to Drake, then Brad and I discussed the details of how we could help. Within two weeks we had reached an agreement and raised the money needed to pay salaries and avoid bankruptcy.”
These were the most incredible successes in Venice. More precisely, at Venezia FC, when I recently consolidated the promotion to Serie A and now announced a new incredible technical partner: Nocta, Drake’s Nike sub-label. Scopri is coming https://t.co/6YLMz1ER2l pic.twitter.com/WN4CY9818i
— gqitalia (@GQitalia) 10 August 2024
