Roma president James Pallotta remarked in a long interview on the club's official site on the negotiations over a sale with Dan Friedkin. There has been much discussed in recent weeks over the state of the club's future ownership status, as well as the future of their sporting project. Pallotta broke his silence over the sale and discussed the situation: “Sometimes what people forget is that we are a public entity, so it’s simply not possible or practical to speak most of the time about the ownership situation. What I can say, however, is that we have an investor group and so if someone approaches us about investing or buying the club, we have a fiduciary responsibility to listen and respond."
“The Friedkin Group approached us last fall and, towards the end of the year, we were beginning to find an agreement. We went into more detail - and the devil is always in the detail – but after changes made by their lawyers and bankers, the offer began to morph into something less and less palatable for both Roma and our investment group. “The last semi-concrete offer we received - some of the details of which seem to have been leaked by either their lawyers or bankers - just wasn’t close to being acceptable. And this is the offer that some appear to be very upset about."
"I am not sure if those who are upset understand how a deal like this works – but it’s not with seller-financing. At the end of the day, if I am buying a house, I don’t expect the seller of the house to reduce the asking price to cover the cost of all of the refurbishments I want to make. That’s not how it works. If the Friedkin Group has the money and wants to talk again and wants to make an offer that we all find acceptable for Roma, we would listen. Could they be a good owner for Roma? Maybe. We just don’t know. It’s impossible to know whether or not the Friedkin Group could be the saviour of Roma, as some think, or the best owner for Roma, but we continue to have people calling us and wanting to talk to us and as a fiduciary, we have to listen to them."
Pallotta also answered whether he sees his time at the club coming to an end: "Well, as I get older, I do think about my future and I would like to leave the club in really good, strong hands. I would like someone to be a good steward of Roma and with the ability to compete in the manner that we would all like. Until that time, we continue to support Roma in countless ways and continue to put money into the club to ensure we can compete in the biggest competitions and at the highest levels. I, along with a few others, have certainly put in more than was expected of us personally, because we have always tried to do well by Roma."
