Stephen Pagliuca was in Dubai this week to attend the World Governments Summit, where he took part in a Future of Sports roundtable discussion. The investor and sports executive discussed issues relating to sport, investment and global affairs.
Pagliuca is the founder, chairman, and CEO of PagsGroup, the former co-chairman of Bain Capital and holds a controlling stake in Italian football club Atalanta. A former co-owner of the Boston Celtics, he splits his time primarily between Boston and Palm Springs in the United States, while regularly travelling to Italy as part of his involvement with the Bergamo club.
His presence in Dubai reflected both sides of his professional life. “I’m here in a couple of capacities. One is I’m a big investor in tech, AI, biotech. There’s a lot of investors here. We’ll learn about that. And then I’m also here for the sports aspect of it to talk about Atalanta, the Celtics, and all the sports properties,” he told The National on the sidelines of the Summit.
Attending the summit for the third consecutive year, Pagliuca pointed to the diversity of perspectives as the reason he continues to return.
“There’s a great network here of folks in the Middle East and throughout the world who come to this event ... many of the sports leaders, many of the tech leaders, many of the health care leaders. And that’s kind of my business ... So it’s kind of a perfect place for me to be.”
Atalanta’s rise is considered one of the most compelling fairy tales in modern European football. Built through smart investment and long-term planning, the squad that lifted the Europa League in 2024 was assembled for just €211 million, a far cry from the large sums spent by their elite competitors.
Consistently outperforming wealthier rivals, the club now find themselves in the Uefa Champions League play-offs, set to face Borussia Dortmund in a two-legged tie in the latter half of February.
Pagliuca challenges the assumption that European competition has become the sole preserve of the richest clubs. “I think there’s definitely room for fairy-tale stories; we had one in the Europa League. We ended up beating Liverpool and Marseille along the way, some very, very good clubs, and we beat Chelsea this year.”
The foundations of the Serie A club’s success, he argues, lie in Atalanta’s development pathway. “I think clubs like Atalanta, really the cornerstone of the club, is the fantastic academy that we have. We have an under-23 team that plays in Serie C, and that gives us a pipeline where we compete with the bigger clubs.
"Also, we've globalised Atalanta. We have New Balance as the equipment provider now. New Balance is the stadium name. I think our surveys show we're everybody's second favourite team outside of Bergamo in Italy.”
Over the summer, Atalanta ended a period that had defined the club’s modern identity. Coach Gian Piero Gasperini departed after nine successful seasons, with his successor Ivan Juric, a disciple of "Gasp", tasked with continuing that legacy. The transition proved difficult. Atalanta managed just three wins from their opening 13 games of the new season, and momentum failed to build.
Juric’s tenure lasted only 15 games, a period Pagliuca continues to reflect on with perspective. “I think that it’s unfortunate. Ivan Juric had to play with six or seven of our players injured. So I don’t really know if it was fair to move on from Ivan Juric. I go back and forth about it in my own mind. But I think sometimes you just need to make a change to get the team back on track, irrespective of how good the coach was.”
The club opted to reset course, appointing Raffaele Palladino in November, another coach influenced by Gasperini’s methods. Pagliuca made clear that ownership was closely involved in the decision.
“We get involved. He was a very strong candidate. We had a couple of strong candidates and he’s turning out to be a very, very good coach and he has a great record since he’s come on board.”
Balancing responsibilities at Atalanta and the Celtics has coincided with success in both organisations. Titles were won on both sides of the Atlantic in 2024, with Atalanta winning the Europa League and the Celtics winning an the NBA Finals.
“You know, it’s like asking you to choose among your children. They’re both fantastic journeys," Pagliuca said.
Pagliuca’s background across different sports and continents gives him a broad view of the industry. Asked whether that could lead to future investment in the region, his response was open-ended: “Never say never!”
Attention then shifted from club ownership to the international game, where the build-up to the 2026 World Cup has unfolded against a tense political backdrop.
Rising ticket prices have been accompanied by calls from senior figures in the game for a fan boycott, amid concerns over immigration policy, travel restrictions affecting supporters from qualified nations and broader geopolitical tensions surrounding the United States, which will co-host the tournament alongside Canada and Mexico.
Pagliuca was dismissive of the surrounding noise. “No, I’m confident it’s going to be a great World Cup. After all the politics get out of the way and [teams] start playing the games, people focus on the games. I think the other stuff was just kind of annoying.”
