In the Italian Facebook group Casabase, the undersigned has heard that New Rimini, the successor to the bankrupt Rimini Pirates, has been evicted from its stadium by the municipality of the Italian seaside resort. A debt of 400,000 euros was apparently the limit.
The Pirati Stadium will soon return to the ownership of the municipality of Rimini.
The Council of State has rejected the appeal of Rimini Baseball ASD, definitively confirming that the club led by Ciro Esposito no longer has the right to manage the sports facility.
But that’s not all. According to the municipality, the club has a huge debt of 400,000 euros, containing approximately €185,000 in unpaid energy bills and outstanding taxes, including €81,000 in TARI (waste tax) and another €130,000 in other municipal taxes.
If that is not enough, Chairman Esposito and former President Simone Pillisio will be put on trial and charged for comments they posted on social media that are considered insulting to the municipal body and its sports councilor Michele Lari.
But Pillisio has a company that is in debt to the Italian grassroots and softball federation FIBS, to complicate matters even further.
Somehow, baseball in Italy is always affected by presidents/owners who have no real interest in baseball. New Rimini’s predecessor, Rimini Pirati, was abandoned by owner/chairman Pillisio after he withdrew and left the club alone with a huge debt, sending successor New Rimini to the lowest possible level of baseball in Italy.
Baseball in Italy is simply not big enough for the clubs to be big money makers. The only two clubs with really major sponsors have withdrawn from European baseball because the new format was too expensive.
What will happen to New Rimini remains unclear. Without a margin to play, the 2025 season could have been the club’s swan song, especially with its association with FIBS ending just before the 2026 season.
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