As many of you know, the Coppa Italia is struggling. Attendance is weak, interest is low until the semifinals, and I would consider it the least prestigious cup among the big five European nations (England, Italy, Spain, Germany, and France). It's time for a revamp.

I had an epiphany on the Coppa Italia today. Assuming Serie A goes to 18 teams at some point in the near future due to Champions League expansion, I think I have found a way to spice up the Coppa Italia to make it a big deal. Instead of making it a pure knockout competition, I would have the final 16 play a World Cup style tournament between Matchday 6 and 7 of the Champions League in mid-December to mid-January. Serie A, Serie B, and Serie C would go on a six-week winter break (similar to Germany) so that the focus would be on the cup. The first three rounds of the competition would remain the same.

If Serie A had a 34-game calendar and started two weeks earlier, I think everybody involved would make more money.

Using the 23/24 calendar for each Serie A week (with my proposed changes):
1: 8/6
2: 8/13
3: 8/20
4: 8/27
5: 9/3
6: 9/17
7: 9/24
8: 10/1
9: 10/8
10: 10/22
11: 10/29
12: 11/5
13: 11/12
14: 11/26
15: 12/3
16: 12/10
Coppa Italia: 12/17-1/14
17: 1/21
18: 1/28
19: 2/4
20: 2/11
21: 2/18
22: 2/25
23: 3/3
24: 3/10
25: 3/17
26: 3/31
27: 4/7
28: 4/14
29: 4/21
30: 4/28
31: 5/5
32: 5/12
33: 5/19
34: 5/26

This entire accomplishes several things:
1. 18-team league
2. No weekday Serie A match weeks
3. Christmas-time Coppa Italia that doesn't interfere with Serie A or Europe
4. Gets rid of the Supercoppa as it won't be needed as the clubs can make much more in this format than with the Supercoppa and previous Coppa Italia format combined

Potential groups for said tournament:

A: Inter Milan, Fiorentina, Bologna, and Parma
B: AC Milan, Atalanta, Udinese, and Sassuolo
C: Lazio, Roma, Genoa, and Cittadella
D: Napoli, Juventus, Torino, and Sampdoria

What do you think?