The Municipality of Milan has approved the start of public debate on AC Milan and Inter Milan’s proposal to develop a new stadium and associated mixed-use development, with further details emerging on the financing of the scheme and its timeline.
The start of the public debate process in the coming days comes after the Municipality approved changes to the project put forward by the Serie A football clubs. These updates centred on three key amendments requested by the Municipality in November.
These concerned an adjustment of the site plan to reduce the size of the project footprint, reconfiguration of the area on which where the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, or San Siro, currently stands as a sports district with the enhancement and increase of greenery, and updating the project’s economic and financial plan.
The Municipality added: “According to the ‘Studio dei Club’, the new stadium, with a capacity of about 60,000 seats, will be equipped with a series of integrated service functions, such as sales/refreshment points and reception areas.
“The reconfiguration of the area includes over 100,000 square metres of greenery, 65% of which are equipped for sport and recreation.”
Populous in December saw off competition from Manica/Sportium to land the contract to design the new stadium. Populous’ project, dubbed ‘The Cathedral’, was selected, with the coming weeks having promised the finalisation of the objectives and development process of Milan’s new stadium.
However, little progress has been made since then, with the project mired in bureaucratic red tape. Since that point, Sesto San Giovanni, a commune located to the north of Milan, is said to have been identified as a ‘plan B’ alternative location for the new stadium.
In March, the two clubs said they “remain open to evaluating other design solutions” as they continued to encounter difficulties in progressing the venture. According to the latest official documents on the project, obtained by the Calcio e Finanza website, Milan and Inter are now planning to invest €1.294bn (£1.13bn/$1.28bn) in the project, up by around €62m from the projection in 2019.
Of this sum, €603.5m has been earmarked for the new stadium and €52.1m for demolition work on the Giuseppe Meazza to repurpose it for the mixed-use district, which is projected to cost €359m itself.
The timeline that has now been set out envisions that initial work can commence on the site on January 1, 2024. The new stadium itself has been set a timeline of December 26, 2024 to September 12, 2027, ahead of the 2027-28 season. Completion of the whole sports and entertainment district is expected on July 31, 2030.
When complete, the stadium is expected to generate €80.1m per year in revenue, with the mixed-use district projected to contribute an additional €40.3m once complete. Calcio e Finanza said that M-I Stadio, the company owned by the two clubs which operates the Giuseppe Meazza, pulled in €12.3m in revenue during the 2018-19 financial year, the last season played entirely with fans in the stadium.
