Inter CEO Alessandro Antonello launched a stark warning to politicians blocking the San Siro project. ‘We will build a new stadium and if they won’t let us do it in Milan, we will go elsewhere.’
The plans to construct a new, modern arena have been going for years and continue to get nowhere, largely because the local politicians are refusing to allow the demolition of the existing Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.
The aim was to build the new stadium essentially in the car park of the current venue, making it the ‘new’ San Siro, as the clubs warned it is practically impossible to merely do reconstruction work on the existing arena.
“We have always believed that a new stadium was the correct decision. We believe in the value of being at San Siro and the historic bond with the area, so a modern arena would give the fans a spectacle not only over 90 minutes, but also before and after the games, seven days out of seven,” said Antonello at an event.
“The administration has gone through all the steps and after four years we are still here asking ourselves if it is possible to get the all-clear for a stadium.
“Every year we lose 50-60m per club by not having our own stadium. These are resources we could use to reinforce the squad and compete on a European level.
“We believe that San Siro is the right location, so we want a stadium that has the same emotional characteristics as the Stadio Meazza, but is modern. The fans are intelligent, they can imagine the excitement in the new arena.”
Initially, the plan was to create a stadium of 50,000 seats, but Antonello confirms the recent surge in ticket sales for Milan and Inter has seen their plans balloon to 70,000.
“We need a stadium that is more or less constantly full, so 70,000 is the right dimension for Milano. I have been working on this project for four years. We want to do business, we will build a new stadium and if they won’t let us do it in Milan, we will go elsewhere.”
Milan had for a while seemed to plan their own separate arena, but Inter are confident the stadium will be built together.
This is so frustrating. Get on with it. And what happened to Roma’s stadium? Serie A has lots of catching up to do financially – so get the infrastructure in place.