The RedBird owner has outlined his ambitions following the launch of Milan Sports & Entertainment, a new holding company designed to help increase the club's revenues and strengthen its position in the international football market.
In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Cardinale made clear that his commitment to Milan is long-term and that he has no intention of selling the club.
“Long-term commitment? Yes. I will never sell Milan. Never,” he said.
However, Cardinale is not prepared to wait indefinitely for the club to return to the top. He wants AC Milan competing for major honours as quickly as possible, with regular Serie A titles and a return to the Champions League among his objectives.
“This is a project to make them win again. I am not prepared to tolerate it taking a long time to achieve that. I want to do it as soon as possible. I want to win league titles consistently and return to the Champions League.”
The new Milan Sports & Entertainment structure is central to that ambition. Cardinale believes Milan must develop a stronger commercial and financial model if they are to compete with the Premier League's wealthiest clubs.
He was particularly critical of the idea that Serie A could regain its position through the sale of a portion of its international commercial rights.
“I don't think it would have been a good deal to sell 30 per cent of the international commercial rights when JP Morgan's offer came in. That is not how Serie A can return to the top in Europe,” he explained.
“It's about business planning and creating all the opportunities to generate new revenue. That is what we will do with Milan Sports & Entertainment.”
Cardinale also highlighted the importance of the proposed new stadium, which Milan are developing alongside Inter.
“We will be the first to build a stadium together with Inter since 2011, and that is a huge achievement. I started working on it when I bought Milan, and finally the right moment has arrived.”
He acknowledged that other clubs might not follow the same path, but insisted that Milan understand what is required to modernise the business.
“No. Some might do it, others won't. We know what is needed to innovate and change. We cannot keep putting into practice Einstein's definition of madness, that everyone wants a different result but nobody wants to do anything differently to achieve it.”
The new stadium is intended to help Milan close the financial gap with Europe's leading clubs, while Cardinale also wants the club to have greater spending power in the transfer market.
“I am doing everything possible to ensure that, when we want a player, nobody can tell me: 'You cannot sign him because you cannot afford him'.”
He added that Premier League clubs currently have a significant advantage when it comes to securing elite players.
“Right now, only Premier League clubs are able to invest certain amounts and secure the top players. If I want to bring Milan back to the top in European competitions, not just in Italy, we have to understand how to compete with the biggest clubs in the world.”
Cardinale also addressed comparisons with former Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi, arguing that his intention was to explain how the club could once again influence the wider development of Italian football.
“Everyone thought I was making an arrogant, egocentric comparison between myself and Berlusconi, but that was not my objective. What I was trying to explain was that, just as Berlusconi transformed Milan and Serie A, we want, through our ownership, to be capable of taking the club into the new era we are living in. And we have to do it in the same way Berlusconi did, by doing something new.”
The message from Cardinale is that Milan's ambitions extend beyond the pitch. He sees the stadium, commercial development and new financial structure as essential to building a club capable of challenging Europe's wealthiest teams.
His immediate demand, however, remains straightforward: Milan must start winning major trophies again, and he wants that progress to happen without delay.