Former New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza has had enough when it comes to the rent his Italian soccer team, Reggiana FC, is being forced to pay.
Have you ever complained that your rent is too high? If so, former New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza feels your pain. The Hall of Famer is not happy with the rent that his Italian soccer team, Reggiana FC, a Serie C team, has to pay.
Piazza purchased a majority share of Reggiana FC in June 2016. Last week he went on a rant about having to pay rent to Giorgio Squinzi, the owner of the Serie A team Sassuolo, who also owns the arena where Reggiana plays. Squinzi bought the title of the stadium at an auction and Reggiana is forced to pay him rent, according to Andrew Keh of the New York Times.
Piazza wants to negotiate the rent down to something that’s close to the Serie C league average.
“We deserve respect. We are not going to be pushed around by a multi-billion dollar corporation, the stadium was built for this team by these people,” he said, per Brett Bodner of the New York Daily News. “We’ve gotten nothing and I’m sick of it, I’m tired and sick of Reggiana being pushed around. I am frustrated and I’m fricking pissed off.”
He added, “I have a lot of respect for what Sassuolo has accomplished. But guess what? Sassuolo is not bringing the New York Times to Reggio Emilia for publicity. I am—we are.”
Piazza also said that they want to pay what’s fair and that the city might need to find a place for them to play.
“We want to pay what is fair,” he said. “We are not looking for charity. We want to pay the league average. We want to pay what’s fair. We want them to come back to the table and we want the mayor to help. That’s the bottom line. If not, the mayor, the city (of Reggio Emilia) needs to find us a place to play.”
Piazza was named to 12 All-Star teams, won 10 Silver Slugger awards as a catcher, and made it to the World Series with the Mets but lost. He was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 2016.
