Como's owners look beyond sport with brand building, travel plans

MILAN : It has been a slow start to the Serie A season for newly promoted Como but for their deep-pocketed owners, Indonesia's billionaire Hartono brothers, progress on the pitch is part of a wider business plan centred on the image of the lakeside city.

Como have just returned to Italy's top flight after a 21-year absence.

Although a small club in Serie A terms they are coached by former Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas and bolstered by a string of summer signings, including ex-Barcelona midfielder Sergi Roberto and former Spanish national goalkeeper Pepe Reina.

Having failed to win any of their first four matches, they finally picked up their first three points at Atalanta on Tuesday.

But Serie A survival, plus the revamp of Como's historic and scenic lakeside Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium, are just strands of a multi-pronged strategy that has soccer at its heart but stretches to travel, fashion and the media.

When London-based Sent Entertainment, part of the Hartonos' conglomerate Djarum, took over the club in 2019, the team were struggling in lowly Serie D after years of financial troubles.

Their first idea was producing a documentary on an amateur soccer club.

"Slowly we realized that the opportunity was far greater than what we originally thought," said Mirwan Suwarso, the executive who represents the ownership.

"We'd like to create a model similar to that of Disney, where the centre of the business is the lake, is Como, is the city. That's our business. That's how we see us," he told Reuters.

COMO'S ATTRACTION

Boosted by the presence of Hollywood star George Clooney, who has owned a local villa since the early 2000s, Lake Como in northern Italy is a booming destination for foreign tourism.

The club and its owners, who have a