Milan have released a statement explaining the reasons why they are pushing to leave their current home in San Siro to build their own stadium.
The Rossoneri had been working with intercity rivals Inter to construct a new stadium in the Lombardy capital, drawing up plans to demolish the existing Stadio Giuseppe Meazza to make space for Populous ‘Cathedral’ project.
Progress on this has slowed to a crawl due to the frustrations of Italian bureaucracy, allowing divisions to form between the two Milanese clubs. Milan are now working on a new stadium project without Inter, planning a 60-70,000 seater stadium in the La Maura neighbourhood of the Lombardy capital.
In a statement published on Tuesday, Milan explained why they are working so hard on a new stadium.
“Having a new stadium is fundamental for the future of the Club, in order to return with consistency to the elite of world football. The Club wants to build the most beautiful, modern and functional stadium in the world, incorporating it within an eco-sustainable urban regeneration project that all the citizens of Milan will benefit from.
“RedBird intends to offer fans an experience worthy of the Club’s history and calibre, ensuring that Milan has a home worthy of its status and in step with the times. The ambition is to create with the new stadium a global icon for the Club and for the city of Milan.
“The new stadium will be a reference point for innovation and sustainability. We want to build a facility set in a vast green area, which guarantees carbon neutrality and is LEED certified thanks to the use of the most innovative materials and cutting-edge technologies in terms of water and electricity use, as well as noise reduction.
“The stadium will provide unprecedented accessibility and experience, offering maximum safety and comfort, as well as a range of new services to the public. The Club has demonstrated over the past four years (the first project was submitted to the Milan City Council in July 2019) that it has making the construction of a new, modern stadium one of its priorities.
“RedBird has great experience in this field, having built among others the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium ($1.2B) and the New York Yankees’ Yankee Stadium ($2.3B).
“Gerry Cardinale’s presence in Milan at the beginning of the month to meet – together with CEO Furlani – Mayor Sala at Palazzo Marino and President Fontana at Palazzo Lombardia testifies not only to the Club’s great attention to this issue, but also to its strong desire to speed up the process in order to reach a solution that satisfies all parties as soon as possible.”
Gerry Cardinale and RedBird have hired CAA Icon as consultants to help them find investors for a loan to build the stadium. Their current plans expect costs to be in the region of around €600m and the ‘Cathedral’ project has been shelved.