All the buzz about Benetton Sport Group

The possible sale of the Benetton Sports Group by the Italian parent company is creating lots of buzz worldwide, but it seems to mean really very little to Benetton and Italy as a whole, SNEWS learned while in Italy. The sports brands, including Prince, Nordica and Rollerblade, are only a teeny tiny part of what the company does out of its Roman villa-esque headquarters near Treviso, Italy, in the Montebelluna shoe and sports district north of Venice. In fact, get this: SNEWS was told that the company actually bought from the government all the country’s freeways. Yes, you read that right. All those autostrada are owned by the Benetton company, as are many of the country’s major train stations, such as Rome. SNEWS View: Rumors still fly about who’s going to buy the sports brands, but you can forget Finland’s Amer Group, as well as Italy’s Tecnica brand. Meanwhile, we’re wondering when Phil Knight will decide to pick up a couple of Interstates to add to his collection.