Rival football clubs Inter Milan and AC Milan have rejected a plan to renovate their San Siro stadium put forward by contractor Webuild, website Sempre Inter reports.
Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala told reporters on Friday that the clubs had decided to build a new stadium in the same area.
He spoke after meeting club representatives and executives from the Rome-based construction company, the largest in Italy.
“Their proposal is, at this point, to return to the idea of a new stadium in the San Siro area,” Sala said.
“As you know, it is a very long process. There is a lot of work behind it. The positive thing I see is that we are not starting from scratch but from a series of actions that we have already undertaken.”
The clubs believe that leaving the stadium, which is owned by the city of Milan, would be more expensive in the short term, but would be better for longer-term revenues.
Sala said the clubs had “provided detailed analyses of technical and economic feasibility and their conclusions are that this project cannot be carried out at a sustainable cost and that they do not wish to move in this direction”.
Stadium replacement plans abandoned
Webuild made its renovation proposal to the clubs in June after a proposal to demolish the stadium and build a replacement was abandoned (see further reading).
It would have taken three years, starting with the renovation of the entire first tier and modernising seating and facilities.
The second and third tiers would have had structural work and new seats.
VIP seating would have grown from 2,900 to 13,000.
Outside, the car park was to be reorganised and expanded, and a 9,000 sq m building would have housed a museum and restaurants.
The cost of the refurbishment was estimated to be around €400m.
Mayor Sala supported it at the time, saying he hoped the teams would “take it into serious consideration”. The mayor’s latest statement suggests the proposal has been dropped.
There are also indications the teams may go their separate ways.
Earlier this year, AC Milan bought land in the suburb of San Donato Milanese, to the southeast of the city.
Inter Milan is looking at the towns of Rozzano and Assago, south of the city, and has also explored the possibility of building on former industrial land in the northern suburb of Sesto San Giovanni.
The Giuseppe Meazza stadium, as the 80,000-seat San Siro is formally known, was opened in 1926 as the Nuovo Stadio Calcistico San Siro.
It was built for Piero Pirelli, the president of AC Milan. The inauguration was on 19 September 1926, when 35,000 spectators saw Inter defeat Pirelli’s team by six goals to three.
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