electric vehicle. what are the stakes between the u.s. and china right now? there are few places better than the western pacific onboard the aircraft carrier "uss nimitz" to find out. is the u.s. navy ready? >> ready, yes. i'll never admit to being ready enough. >> reporter: today, the commander of the united states pacific fleet talks about the state of the u.s. navy, china's growing fleet, and new long-range missile systems. and what the top gun pilots are seeing in the sky. how aggressive has china become in the air?

>> aggressive. >> is it your hope, in the u.s., the force, posture of the u.s. navy, will deter a chinese invasion of taiwan? >> it's not my hope, it's my duty. >> rocco cumiso doesn't suffer fools. but like most italian soccer fans, he does suffer. three years ago, he bought the team in florence, where game day is filled with more agony and ecstasy than a puccini opera. when he bought fiorentina, it ticked two boxes. first, it was a bargain for a european club. second, it met the demand by his wife, that if he insisted on buying a team, it had to be some place nice. i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm sharyn alfonsi. >> i'm jon wertheim.

>> i'm norah o'donnell. >> i'm scott pelley. those and more tonight on "60 minutes." ♪ ♪ you don't have to wait until retirement to start enjoying your plans. with pacific life... ...imagine your future with confidence. for more than 150 years... we've kept our promise to financially protect and provide. so, you can look forward to exploring your family's heritage with the ones you love.

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the united states navy helped secure victory in two world wars and the cold war. today, the navy remains a formidable fighting force. even officers within the service have questioned its readiness. the u.s. spent 20 years fighting iraq and afghanistan, the u.s. watched china, the rival of the 25th century, build the largest

navy in the world. china has threatened to use that navy to invade taiwan, an important american ally. as tensions with china continued to rise, we wanted to know more about the current state of the u.s. navy and how it's trying to deter china, while preparing for the possibility of war. >> the navy is always on alert. one-third of the navy is always deployed and operating at all times. the navy is mustering right now about 300 ships and there are about 100 ships at sea right now all around the glove. >> reporter: admiral samuel paparo commands the u.s. fleet, whose 200 ships and 150,000 sailor civilians make up about 60% of the navy. we met him last month on "uss nimitz" deployed near guam, southeast of taiwan and the

people's republic of china or prc. you've been operating as a naval officer for 40 years. how has operating in the western pacific changed? >> in the early 2000s, the prc navy mustered about 37 vessels. today, they're mustering 350 vessels. >> reporter: this month, china's new foreign minister qin gang delivered a stern warning to the u.s. he says if washington does not change course in its stance towards china, conflict and confrontation is inevitable. this past august, when then-speaker of the house nancy pelosi became the most senior u.s. political figure to visit taiwan in 25 years, china called it a blatant provocation. the people's liberation army fired ballistic missiles into the sea around taiwan and encircled the island with aircraft and warships. are chinese warships now operating closer to taiwan after

nancy pelosi's visit? >> yes. >> reporter: the best guess anyone has about china's ultimate intentions of taiwan comes from the cia. according to its intelligence assessment, china's president xi jingping has ordered the people's liberation army to be prepared to take the island back by force by 2027. if china invades taiwan, what will the u.s. navy do? >> it's a decision of the president of the united states and a decision of the congress. it's our duty to be ready for that. but the bulk of the united states navy will be deployed rapidly to the western pacific to come to the aid of taiwan. if the order ye i'llever admit to beinggh or pde biden hasared t inclingn

miry defen taiw, u.s which a democracy and the world's leading producer of advanced microchips. to reach the "uss nimitz" we first traveled to america's most western most rritor the island of guam in the middle of the pacific. guam was taken by imperial japan two days after the attack on pearl harbor in 1941. u.s. marines recaptured it 2 1/2 years later, and the island about the size of chicago became an indispensable strategic foothold in the western pacific as it remains today. from guam, we boarded a navy c-2 greyhound, the cold war era transport plane takes people and supplies back and forth from land to the carrier. it was a short flight to the ship. and an even shorter landing.

incredible. >> first dock landing? >> yes. >> before the admiral rose to lead the pacific fleet, he flew jets and graduated from the school known as top gun. when you talk about ships. what's the most powerful in the u.s. navy? >> an aircraft carrier, and its air wing is capable of 150 strike or air-to-air sorties per day, at its surge level, the ability to deliver 900 precision guided munitions every day and reloadable every night. >> so even though china now has the largest navy in the world, they don't have anything like this in terms of aircraft carriers. >> they do not, but they're working towards it. they have two operational aircraft carriers right now. >> that's china's two diesel fueled carriers, to the u.s.'s 11 nuclear powered ones that can carry a total of about 1,000 attack aircraft. more than the navies of every

other nation on earth combined. >> i'll tell you this. we are here to stay in the south china sea and this part of the world. i think that's the message we really want to convey, to not only china but the entire world. we will sail wherever international law allows. >> reporter: lieutenant commander david ash flies an fa-18. do you get briefed on china's growing military threat and the progress that their navy is making? >> absolutely. yeah, absolutely we do. they're making great progress in a lot of key areas. >> reporter: the chinese? >> the chinese are from a military standpoint. >> reporter: this video from lieutenant commander matthew carleten shows his fa-18 strafing grown tarkts with a machine gun on a u.s. weapons range near guam. the pilots on the nimitz also conduct air-to-air combat or dog fighting drills daily.

how aggressive has china become in the air? >> aggressive. and just some examples include unsafe, unprofessional intercepts where they move within single digits of feet of other aircraft, flashing the weapons they have onboard to the air crew of the other aircraft, operating in internaional air space. maneuvering their aircraft in such a way that denies the ability to turn in one direction. if they're safe and professional, then there's no problem. everybody has the right to fly and sail wherever international law dictates. >> reporter: but the chinese are pushing that. >> they are pushing it. >> reporter: china's increasingly aggressive moves, building bases in the middle of the south china sea, have pushed nations like japan and the philippines to forge closer military ts the u.s. and this past week, britain, the

u.s., and australia landmark deal to jointly develop nuclear powered attack submarines to patrol the pacific. this is how china and taiwan appear on most maps. this is how the chinese communist party sees the western pacific. including the south and east china seas from beijing. taiwan is the fulcrum in what china's leaders call the first island chain, a constellation of u.s. allies that stretches across its entire coast. control of taiwan is the strategic key to unlocking direct access to the pacific and the sea lanes where about 50% of the world's commerce gets transported. china has accused the united states of trying to contain them. what do you say to china? >> i would say do you need to be contained? are you expanding? are you an expansionist power?

to a very great extent, the united states was the champion for china's rise. and in no way are we seeking to contain china. what we are seeking for them to play by the rules. >> reporter: china's navy, a branch of the people's liberation army, is now the world's largest. china is also using its 9,000-mile coastline to rewrite the rules of fightig at sea, as these images from chinese state media show. its military has invested heavily in long-range precision guided weapons, like the df-21 and df' 26 that can be used to target ships. china's people's liberation army rocket force calls them carrier killers and has practiced shooting them at mock-ups of american ships in the desert that look a lot like the nimitz. since the united states has been operating in the western

pacific, china's back yard, they have been developing missiles to attack our assets, haven't they? specific missiles. >> absolutely, yes. first i'll say the united states is also a western pacific nation. so it's not china's backyard. it's, you know, it is a free and ope open indo-pacific that encompasses numerous partners and treaty allies. and yes, we have seen them greatly enhance their power projection capability. >> reporter: how much do you worry about the pla rocket force? >> i worry. i would be a fool to not worry about it. of course, i worry about the pla rocket force. of course, i work every single day to develop the tactics and techniques and procedures to counter it and continue to develop the systems that can also defend against that. >> reporter: about how far are we from mainland china. >> 1500 nautical miles. >>hey can. >> s, can. if they have the targeting in

place, they could hit this aircraft carrier. if i don't want to be hit, there's something i can do about it. >> reporter: u.s. navy planners aren't just planning how to evade china's rocket force but also how they can effectively fight back. from the vicinity of guam, none of the aircraft on this ship has the range to approach taiwan without refueling in the air. ships like the u.s. destroyer wayne e. meyer, would need to sail much closer towards china to fire their missiles at any force invading taiwan. one naval scholar we spoke to likened it to a boxing match in which a fighter in this case china has much longer arms than their potential opponent, the u.s. >> i'll give you a lot of examples where a shorter fighter was able to prevail over a long-armed fighter, by being on their toes, by maneuvering, and we can also stick and move while

we're developing those longer range weapons. >> reporter: there is another area of modern naval warfare where the u.s. had a head start and retains a deep advantage over china. i just noticed out of the corner of my eye. >> this is a 688 los angeles class attack submarine. this is the most capable submarine on the clannic with the exception of the virginia class, our newer class of sumarines. >> reporter: the exact number is classified, but our best estimate is there are about a dozen nuclear powers submarines patrolling the pacific at any time. they're difficult to detect and attract, something china is trying to solve. how much more advanced is u.s. submarine technology than chinese capability? >> a generation. >> reporter: a generation. >> by generation, think 10 or 20 years but broadly, i don't really talk in depth about submarine capabilities.

it's the silent service. >> reporter: since nancy pelosi's visit to taiwan, china's military leaders have themselves been mostly silent and ignored efforts by the u.s. military to keep the lines of communication open, even when a chinese spy balloon breached american air space and was shot down by the u.s. if the u.s. and chinese militaries can't communicate over a chinese spy balloon, then what's going to happen when there's a real crisis in the south china sea or with taiwan? >> we'll hope that they'll answer the phone. else, we'll do our very best assessment based on the things they say in open source and based on their behavior to divine their intentions, and we'll act accordingly. >> reporter: doesn't that make the situation even more dangerous if u.s. and chinese militaries are not talking? >> yes. >> reporter: several sources within the pentagon tell "60

minutes" if china invaded taiwan, it could very well kick off in outer space, with both sides targeting the other's satellites that enable precision guided weaponry. cyberattacks on american cities, and the sabotage of ports on the west coast of the u.s. mainland could follow. one recent nonclassified war game had the u.s. prevailing but losing 20 ships including two carriers. does that sound about right? >> that is a plausible outcome. i can imagine a more pessimistic outcome, and i can imagine a more optimistic outcome. we should be clear eyed about the costs that we're potentially incurring. >> reporter: there are about 5,000 americans onboard the nimitz. the ship is nearly half a century old. given the navy's current needs in the pacific, and because thstsuclear reactors, the carrier's life at sea is going to be extended. is it your hope that the power

of the u.s. navy, the force posture of the u.s. navy, will deter a chinese invasion of taiwan? >> it's not my hope. it's my duty. in conjunction with allies and partners to deliver intolerable costs anybody that would upend the order in violation of the nation's security or in violation of the nation's interests. the saying which is sepacem para bellum, if you want peace, prepare for war. >> reporter: as china's president xi prepares for a visit in russia tomorrow, we look at critical questions about the state of the u.s. navy and its readiness when we come back. it's easy to get lost in investment research. introducing j.p. morgan personal advisors. hey david! connect with an advisor to create your personalized plan. let's find the right investments for your goals. okay, great. j.p. morgan wealth management.

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talking to current and formal naval officers, military strategists and politicians about the state of the u.s. navy. one common thread of our reporting is unease, about the size of the u.s. fleet and its readiness to fight. the navy ships are being retired faster than getting replaced. the navy of the peoples republic of china or prc grows larger and more lethal by the year. we asked the commander of the u.s. fleet, admirm samuel paparo, on our visit to "uss nimitz" the oldest aircraft carrier in the navy. >> we call it the decade of concern. we've seen a ten-fold increase in the size of the prc navy. >> reporter: technically speaking, the chinese now have the largest navy in the world in terms of number of ships, correct?

>> reporter: do numbers ma? >> quantity as a quality all in. >>orter:t some point, are they going to reach numbers that we can't prevail over? >> i'm not comfortable with the trajectory. >> if you look at the map of the indo-pacific, one thing becomes clear, there's a lot of water obthat map. so ours has to be a maritime strategy. >> reporter: mike gallagher and elaine luria served on the house armed services committee in the last congress. what's allowed about the u.s. navy to cause the two of you to find the common cause. >> we share a sense of the urgency of the moment. we see increasing threats from china in particular in the indo-pacific. we feel like we're not moving fast enough to build a bigger navy. >> reporter: congressman gallagher is a marine veteran who represents green bay, wisconsin. he chairs the new house committee on china. he's concerned that under the navy's current plan, the fleet will shrink to 280 ships by 2027, the same year the cia says

china has set for having the capability to take taiwan by force. >> we'll be weakest when our enemy is potentially strongest. >> china, we have to be ready to respond today with the forces we have today. >> reporter: former congresswoman elaine luria represented virginia beach until this past january. an annapolis graduate, she had a 20-year naval career before being elected to congress. >> what would you say the state of the u.s. navy is today? >> i think the navy has not received the attention and resources that it needs over two decades. i served on six different ships. every single one of those ships was either built during or a product of the fleet that was built in the cold war. >> reporter: mike gallagher and elaine luria have lobbied for government money for the shipyards in or near their districts, but they say this is less about jobs, more about national security. >> we don't get this right, all of the other things in congress

might not matter. >> you think of what a coherent, grand strategy. the hard power would be the most important part and the navy would be the most important part of your hard power investments. >> reporter: over the last two decade, the navy spent $55 billion on two investments that did not pan out. the first is a class of destroyers known as the zumwalt. the futuristic fighting shups were supposed to revolutionize naval warfare. 32 were ordered but only 3 were launched. the cost of each ship was upwards of $8 billion, making them the three most expensive destroyers ever put to sea. another example is the latoral combat ship or lcs. designed to be a fast, all-purpose warship for shallow waters. $30 billion later the program

ran aground, after structural defects and engine trouble. within the navy, the lcs got the unfortunate nickname, little crappy ship. the last few decades is a lost generation of shipbuilding. is that overly dramatic? >> i don't think so. we're still struggling to build ships on time, on budget, and that's something we absolutely need to fix going forward. >> reporter: this past week, we spoke with admiral mike gillday at the pentagon. he's the chief of naval operations and is responsible for building, equipping and maintaining the entire u.s. navy. is the navy in crisis? >> no. the navy is not in crisis. the navy is out on point every single day. >> reporter: is it being outpaced by china? >> no. our navy is still in a position to prevail. but that's not blind confidence. we're concerned with the trajectory that china is on, with china's behavior. but we are in a good position right now. if we did ever get into a fight against them. >> reporter: how would you

describe what china has been able to do militarily, over the last 20 years? >> the most alarming thing is the growth of not only their conventional forces, but also the strategic nuclear forces, the cyber capability, the space capability, and how they are using that to force other nations, navies, out of certain areas of the south china sea instead of recognizing international law, they want to control where those goods flow and how. >> reporter: what lessons did the u.s. navy learn from some of the shipbuilding mistakes of the last 20 years? >> i think one of the things we learned was that we need to have a design well in place before we begin bending metal. so, we're going back to the past, to what we did in the '80s and the '90s, the navy has the lead. >> there's a tendency among the great powers to look at the naval buildups with deep

suspicion. >> reporter: toshi may know more than any scholar in the west about china's navy. >> china will have about 440 ships by 2030. and that's according to the pentagon. >> reporter: why is china able to build more warships more quickly than the u.s.? >> china has invested in this defense industrial infrastructure to produce these ships, which allows them to produce multiple ships simultaneously, essentially outbuilding many of the western navies combined. >> reporter: china's navy is piggy backing on a commercial ship building industry kept afloat by generous state subsidies, inexpensive materials and cheap labor. in the united states, it's a different story. after the cold war ended, the shipbuilding industry consolidated and many of the yards where ships were both built and maintained closed down. what do you see when you see china's shipbuilding program? >> it's very robust. >> reporter: do we have enough shipyards? >> no.

i wish that we had more commercial shipyards. over my career we've gone from 30 shipyards to 7 we rely upon on a day-to-day basis to build ships. >> reporter: one of the yards is run by huntington ingles industries which built the new state of the art aircraft carrier. after controlled explosions in 2021, to prove it could withstand combat, the ford got closer to deployment, six years late and billions over budget. the navy is not just struggling to build new ships on time, according to the government accountability office or gao, there's a multi-year backlog repairing the ships in the fleet. >> our maintenance backlog is one of the primary things i'm working to correct. so just three years ago, we had

7700 delay days. that is extra days in a shipyard by ships when they weren't operational. we cut that down to 3,000. we're not satisfied. >> reporter: maintenance delays mean sailors can't come home because the ship that's supposed to replace them is not ready. it means longer deployment. it means away from your family more. that's a big strain on the workforce. >> the more ships we can have available to send at sea alleviates many of the problems that you pointed out. sailors join the navy to see the world. so, it's my job to make sure the maintenance delays go to zero and we can get the ships to sea as quickly as possible. >> reporter: in the last year alone, at least ten sailors to ships, undergoing maintenance, or working maintenance facilities have died by suicide. >> it is a problem we're taking very, very seriously. and down to every leader in our navy. everybody has a responsibility to look out for each other, take care of each other. there is no wrong door to knock

on when you need help. >> reporter: admiral gillday says the navy's main advantage over china is america's sailors. his goal is to modernize the u.s. fleet and have those sailors working alongside hundreds of unmanned vessels by 2045. >> i think unmanned is the future. some 40% of our fleet will be unmanned. >> reporter: are these underwater drones? >> some of them are. highly capable. capable of delivering mines and perhaps other types of weapons. >> reporter: the admiral is talking about the orca, an extra large unmanned undersea vehicle. can you say what it will do or is that classified? >> at a minimum, it will have a clandestine mine capability. it will be done in a way that is very secretive but very effective. >> reporter: the gao reports it's already a quarter of a billion dollars overbudget and three years behind schedule.

>> that particular platform is behind schedule. it's a first of a kind. when it delivers ica, very high return on investment from that particular platform. >> reporter: because? >> because, it will be among the most lethal and stealthy platforms in the arsenal of the u.s. military. >> reporter: the navy's total budget request for fiscal year 2024 is over a quarter of a trillion dollars, an $11 billion increase from last year. the focus is on china. the u.s. defense posture is viewed as aggressive by the chinese. the foreign minister said stop the containment. this may lead to conflict. >> perhaps the chinese minister doesn't like the fact that the u.s. navy is operating in collaboration with dozens of navies around the world to ensure that the maritime commons remains free and open for all nations. the chinese want to dictate those terms.

they don't like our presence. our presence is not intended to be provocative. it's intended to assure and reassure allies and partners around the world that those sea lanes do remain open. the global economy literally floats on sea water. how similar is the movie to actual "top gun"? >> top gun graduates compare the movie to the real thing. at 60minutesovertime.com. what if all i do isn't enough? (woma) or what if i can do diabetes differently? (avo) now you can with once-weekly mounjaro. mounjaro helps your body regulate blood sugar, and mounjaro can help decrease how much food you eat. 3 out of 4 people reached an a1c of less than 7%.

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tonight, we're going to tell you one of those "only in america" stories. but this one begins and ends on theo commisso w2 ard atlantic.

united states from southern italy. with the hustle he learned on the streets and the bronx, he built a cable tv empire and a net worth of $8 billion. so what did he do with his made in the usa fortune? commisso returned to the land of his birth and bought a pro soccer team. you described yourself as a hustler. what does that mean? >> well, always in the good sense of a hustler because it could have a terrible sense, right? a hustler always tries to find a way to achieve a certain objective. hustle. hustle. don't give up. don't take no for an answer. >> reporter: i heard you have no tolerance for people you call spinners. >> right. >> reporter: what's a spinner? >> a spinner is a [ bleep ] artist. i know plenty of those guys. i have atty idea who i'm dealing with. >> reporter: did you learn that

in the bronx? >> no. my mave to me when i was born. >> rocco commisso doesn't suffer fools. ♪ but like most italian soccer fans, he does suffer. three years ago, he bought the team in florence, where game day is filled with more agony and ecstasy than a puccini opera. we watched as the city's die-hard fans called the tifosi, inclured a collective 90-minute-long breakdown.inhat g commisso, who is 73, knows the tifosi follow his reactions. he tries to keep a poker face as

he chews wads of nicotine game. how many of these do you go through? >> 15, 20. >> reporter: depends on the game, right? when commisso bought fiorentino, it ticked two boxes. first, the $170 million price was a bargain for a european club. second, it had to meet the demand by his wife, that if he insisted on buying a team, it had to be someplace nice. >> when i landed in florence, outside of the airport, i said call me rocco. over here, titles are very important. i don't need titles. you don't have to call me mister. just call me rocco. and today, they call me rocco. >> reporter: fiorentina, which is nicknamed the purple, has not won a league championship since

1969. the tifosi got sick of waiting and ran the previous owner out of town. >> the tifo, the fans, they are everything. but they can be nasty if you don't win. >> reporter: the highs are high and the lows are low. >> they can't kick rocco out of here. they think they can kick me out? this can't happen. rocco's different. >> reporter: how are you different? >> first of all, there's not been anyone here that has put in the money i put in in a short period of time. i go back 500 years ago. if i lose $500 million, $400 million, i'm not going to go and wash the dishes again like i did when i was a young man. you don't know what's going to come next. >> reporter: rocco's journey to the owners box in florence, began here by the subway in the bronx. his father, a carpenter, and his der brher, ce tohe u.s. in the '50s to escape poverty.

a few years later, they september for rocco, his mother, and two sisters. >> when we came here in 1963, my brother bought the house. ble h. and this was like a luxury to us. we lived upstairs on the second floor. >> reporter: commisso's english was terrible. he played a mean accordion. at age 13 he cut his first deal. he agreed to perform for free at a bronx theater if the manager helped him get into the catholic all-boys high school, mount st. michael academy. it is still a launching pad for young men from immigrant families. >> even though i had not taken the test to get in, i asked the manager to send a recommendation and they admitted me. >> reporter: so, you never took the test. did you have to play the accordion? >> they didn't let me play the accordion. the band didn't have the accordion. >> reporter: just on skills alone, you were given entrance? >> i got lucky. or hustled. whichever way you want to call

it. >> reporter: he kept hustling. every day before and after school, he worked at his family's luncheonette near the subway station to pay his high school tuition. >> i used to get paid $1 an hour. that $1 an hour, i paid four years of mount st. michael schooling. it didn't cost a lot of money then. but it was something. >> reporter: commisso wanted to be an engineer, but a dollar an hour wasn't going to pay for college, so he hunted down a scholarship for a sport he always loved, soccer. never mind that his high school didn't have a team and he'd not played much since coming to america. and somehow, you end up with a soccer scholarship to columbia. how does that happen? >> hustle. i needed money to go to school. so, i asked the gym teacher to go and call the nyu coach. the nyu coach puts me in the german-american league, sees me

play six games. says yeah, i like the kid. let me help him get into nyu, which he did. and they gave me 50% scholarship. but that was not enough. i then told the gym teacher, go call the coach at colombia now. and in the space of three to four weeks, they give me admissions to columbia and a full scholarship. >> had they seen you play? >> no. i asked that question after they admitted me. you give me all of this money and you don't want to see me play? if you're good enough for nyu, you're good enough for columbia. >> reporter: commisso became a team captain and led columbia to its first ncaa tournament. after graduation and an mba, he made his way to wall street. at night, though, he was helping his brother run a disco. rival clubs played the bee gees. not commisso, he chose to play pop music from italy. >> i was really into italian music and came up with this idea, by specializing in something, as opposed to being

like anybody else, we could do well. and nobody could touch us in terms of the competition because nobody had it. >> reporter: commisso became an executive in the cable tv industry just as it exploded. then, in 1995 he decided to start a business he named mediacom. like the disco, he designed a plan to seize an opportunity others had missed. >> there was an eight-page paper that talked about what i foresee in terms of the cable business. >> reporter: what did you foresee? >> what i foresaw was the fact that sooner or later, we were going to get deregulated. and there's a great opportunity to do well in the smaller markets of the u.s., the rural markets. largely because nobody wanted them. re.reporter: rocco believed bu 600,000 miles of cable used to carry computer data through places lthrn bt and deep south.

he risked his life savings to buy up the small systems. again, timing and luck were on his side. today, mediacom provides broadband in 22 states. and rocco's net worth is $8 billion. it's a private company. catherine, rocco's wife of 47 years works there, and so does his sister and his son, joe, on te left. outside mediacom headquarters is a bocce court. inside, espresso flows. commisso told us he had a streak of 25 years of profits and has never laid off workers. i have heard so many people say, it's not personal. it's business. >> that's crap. you know, i think the personal, frankly, has a lot to do with why companies fail or succeed. unfortunately, or fortunately. there's no one like me in our business and i'm talking about

the media, newspapers. but i hate to destroy people's lives because i have to go in and make an extra million dollars. >> reporter: commisso made a point to us that he does not own a yacht, a mansion on the beach, or a private jet. we had to point out he did buy an italian soccer team. >> when i came here, i used three things, fast, fast, fast, that the cost will be, okay, you know, within my means and control, control, control. i control or no money from rocco. that's the way it works. >> reporter: what's harder? running a company like mediacom, or running a soccer team? >> this is significantly more difficult. i get more criticism here than in 1,500 communities in the u.s. >> reporter: the american owner is under relentless scrutiny by fiorentina fans who demand that he shells out whatever it costs

50-year championship drought. then, there's been times when he lost it with the unforgiving italian press. have you ever thought, what have i done? what did i get myself into? >> no. >> reporter: that's a lot of aggravation. >> i made the decision, i'm going to stick with the decision. >> reporter: true to rocco's way, he's playing the long game, by spending $100 million on this. it's called voila park. the comisos showed us around what will be one of the largest soccer facilities in europe for developing young male and female players. but this is italy. >> you see that opening there where you have the two "vs" we had to break the wall apart. >> reporter: you hit a roman wall? >> we had to uncover it. cover it up. but break -- we could not build on top of the roman wall.

>> reporter: despite the agita and a so-so season, he seems to love this business. he's become of the most us orrs some who look like michelangelo may have carved them out of marble. >> my job is to hug them and kiss them and make sure they do better the next time. >> reporter: no tough talk? >> they get the message that things have to change. >> reporter: how do they get the message? >> you know. they get the message. never mind. >> reporter: and if you're wondering if commisso still plays a mean accordion, here's your answer. ♪ our visit to florence ended with dinner and a serenade by the billionaire from the bronx. ♪

do you think if you had stayed in italy, you'd be able to achieve the success you have today? >> no. no way. this is truly the land of opportunity. it gave this poor soul, okay -- yeah, the opportunity to become something, somebody, and that's the beauty of america. >> reporter: you still believe in the american dream? >> absolutely, yeah. it's the last hope in the world. >> reporter: rocco has given millions to his alma maters and has contributed to scholarships for nearly 3,000 students across the u.s. including many first-generation immigrants like him. >> i just want to be known as the guy that nothing, success never changed him. >> reporter: just rocco. >> just rocco.

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