Roma Drawing Ownership Interest from Qatar

I can't imagine something as large, and something to which people are so emotionally attached, as a football club could ever change hands without controversy. Take Roma for example: people (for the most part) loved the Sensi family, viewing them as the perfect stewards for the club, ones that, despite their relatively lack of financial clout, got "it”, they understood why people loved Roma so much, they viewed the fanatical romanticism attached to the club as an asset not a hindrance.

Yet, when an American ownership group initially led by Thomas Di Benedetto took over from Rosella Sensi at the start of this decade, there was a sizable portion of the fanbase that greeted the move with thunderous applause. Sure, the Sensis were sympathetic figures, but this American group had the financial wherewithal Rosella and her late father lacked and were bound to drag the club into the 21st century, come hell or high water.

And, well, here we are some eight years later and very little has changed: Roma are still (relatively speaking) living paycheck to paycheck, and that lack of progress has led many to clamor for another change in leadership at the utmost reaches of the Roma ladder.

Point being, no matter how loved an ownership group may be there will always be people eager to show them the door. And, as we've seen over the past eight years, the honeymoon period for their successors can disappear in the blink of an eye.

Football is a fickle business, but Roma fans don't even necessarily need results, we just want evidence of a plan to get results.

All of which leads us to this—there may be light at the end of the Pallotta tunnel; a tunnel, which, once it's actually built, will be among the best and most used tunnels in Southern Europe.

All kidding aside, it seems like Roma themselves may have some suitors, some fabulously wealthy and football-club-owning suitors, the Qatari Investment Authority, a/k/a the guys who own PSG, a/k/a the Government of Qatar.

Multiple outlets have since picked up on this story, but the skinny of it is that QIA is seeking to expand their footballing portfolio to the Italian peninsula, as they're reportedly keeping tabs on Roma and AC Milan. While the latter is currently owned by Elliot Management, rumor holds that they'd be willing to part ways with the Rossoneri once their debts are settled and they have the inside track on a new and/or renovated stadium.

Hey, speaking of stadiums, Pallotta's patience (or more aptly, impatience) with Roma's local officials may be the key to this far-off deal. With so many years invested in pursuing the Stadio della Roma, a span in which the final piece of Pallotta's Roma puzzle has been waylaid by everything from corrupt politicians to the outcome of local elections to frogs, the assumption is that, with his patience wearing thin, he may be more likely to part ways with the club, assuming the price is right of course.