MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 23: General view outside the stadium prior to the Serie A match between AC Milan and Juventus at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on November 23, 2024 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
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A corner has finally been turned.
After years of political wrangling, roadblocks and threats of taking the show elsewhere, AC Milan and Inter Milan will finally be able to build a modern arena in the city of Milan.
The issue has dragged on and on for six long years. Since their original plans were revealed in the summer of 2019, a long series of road blocks prevented two of the big ‘three’ from having a stadium that befits their standing in the game.
The first issue was the pandemic, which arrived mere months after the plans for a ‘New San Siro’ were announced and decimated club’s bottom line in Serie A.
Then there was the problem of the Inter and Milan ownerships. Both have fallen into the hands of US hedge funds after previous owners defaulted on loans.
For Milan, Elliott Management inherited the Rossoneri after Hong Kong businessman Longhong Li failed to keep up the payments on his $300m loan.
For Inter, Chinese firm Suning defaulted on their $400m bond in 2024, and thus losing the club to Oaktree Capital.
The precarious nature of both club’s owners meant there was little political will from those within Milan’s council to seriously considering knocking down one of the game’s grandest cathedrals, given the lack of resources from each club.
Fed up with the stalemate regarding San Siro, both clubs looked at building in other parts of the city. Milan looked at San Donato, on the periphery of the city, while Inter targeted Rozzano, nestled 9km south.
Both areas felt like power moves from Milan. ‘Let us revamp San Siro or else we’ll leave’, went the thinking.
However, being the mayor responsible for green lighting the destruction of the one of the game’s most-cherished stadiums wasn’t to be taken lightly.
Giuseppe Sala found himself in the middle of a tug-of-war between the clubs who wanted to modernise and the members of the Milan city council who wanted the San Siro to remain as is.
As fantastic as it is as a cauldron of football noise and historical prestige, San Siro was becoming incredibly rough around the edges. There was only so much tinkering the clubs could do to increase profits from matchday revenue.
Milan made around $102m from matchday revenue in 2023/24, the last season where full financial accounts are available, while Inter made $95m. Arsenal, for example, made $179m in matchday revenue in the same campaign despite having a smaller stadium and being a less prestigious club.
If both Milan clubs want to get back to where they believe they should be, challenging and winning the Champions League, a new stadium is simply imperative.
Moreover, with Italy hosting Euro 2032 and Uefa revealing that San Siro wouldn’t get selected due to the state of the San Siro, a Euros without Milan, Italy’s most cosmopolitan and sophisticated city, would be an embarrassment of epic proportions.
Under pressure to do something and unlock the stalemate between the clubs and the council, the stadium and the land adjacent to it will now be sold to both clubs for a price just over $200m.
The council voted in favour of the proposal 24-20 in a marathon sitting on September 29.
The deal has to be officially ratified, but the clock is now ticking for one of the game’s most-iconic stadiums.
The club’s new $1.4bn is scheduled (and scheduled is the word here) for construction sometime in 2027, with the arena built around 2030 and in time for Euro 2032.
It’ll contain 72,000 seats and could see both side’s matchday revenue double once opened.
It’ll be a sad day when the famous red girders are no longer visible from Piazza del Duomo in the heart of the city, but all good things must come to an end.