Beppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, suggested that it’s ‘more feasible’ to renovate and fix up the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza for Inter, should their intercity rivals leave for a new stadium.
The Rossoneri recently presented their new stadium project, hoping to build the facilities at the San Donato area of the city. Feasibility assessments are currently ongoing, and the club are moving forward with confidence, keen to leave the city owned Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in the near future.
Inter have also been hoping to build their own stadium for a number of years now and briefly worked with Milan on a joint project, before splitting off to go their own way. One of the Nerazzurri’s ideas is to build a new home in the Rozzano neighbourhood of the city.
Speaking to La Repubblica via Calciomercato.com, mayor of Milan Sala first expressed his frustration that the current Stadio Giuseppe Meazza will be given protected status by Emanuela Carpani, Lombardy’s superintendent for cultural heritage.
“The restriction placed is a shameful thing. If you place a cultural restriction on a place where football is played, then let’s extend it to 90% of Milan’s buildings. All the mayors agree that the Superintendents have excessive power.”
Sala then discussed what’ll happen next, considering that the plans for San Siro have now changed.
“Not being able to tear down the old San Siro means that the new stadium will not be able to be built next to it, because two functioning stadiums would lead to 150 to 200 days of events per year. Who’s going to tell the residents of the neighbourhood?
“As a Milanese, I’m sorry if Milan go to build their facility in San Donato. The fact remains that if fixing the Meazza with two teams playing there is impossible, doing it with just one is more feasible.
“I continue to think that San Siro has its reason to exist for the future too, even if it won’t be an eternal future.
“In 2026 there will be the inaugural ceremony of the Winter Olympics and that year the Champions League final will most likely be at San Siro. In short, it is a stadium that is anything but dead.”