In a significant departure from earlier intentions to build a new stadium on the team’s current site, Serie A powerhouse AC Milan has submitted a formal request to local officials to build a new 70,000-seat stadium. This move is intended to give the club a far more sustainable future.
Currently, AC Milan and its neighboring rival Inter Milan share the Guiseppe Meazza Stadium at San Siro. The two clubs had originally planned to construct a $1.3 billion “Cathedral” project there, but they encountered a number of political and legal obstacles, most notably one that prevented the destruction of San Siro. Earlier this month, the clubs gave up on the project.
In the revised plan, a brand-new stadium will be built in the Milan neighborhood of San Donato, along with a mixed-use complex that would house the team’s headquarters, a hotel, a museum, and a shop for the club.
AC Milan chairman Paolo Scaroni said, “This is a first step in the development of this process, but, at the same time, it is further proof of our ownership commitment to guaranteeing continuous growth for AC Milan both on and off the pitch.”
The developing stadium design is also a significant step toward Serie A’s financial sustainability, which has recently been plagued by a variety of infrastructure and financial concerns. Riccardo Silva, a co-owner of AC Milan, stated to FOS earlier this month that “in Italy, it’s difficult to build anything.”
However, this new stadium drive is one of the club’s most major recent actions after American private equity firm RedBird Capital acquired AC Milan in a $1.3 billion deal that also included the New York Yankees and
