AS Roma’s proposed new stadium in the Pietralata district of Rome will have a capacity rising to 62,000 and is set to come with a total price tag of €582.1m (£514.7m/$565.3m), according to multiple reports in the Italian media.
A number of newspapers detailed further details behind the project yesterday (Tuesday) evening that were said to have been disclosed as a feasibility study was presented last week. According to the Corriere dello Sport, the Serie A football club’s American owners, the Friedkin group, will invest around €400m in the project – €336m for the stadium, €16.7m towards public infrastructure works and €75m towards concept consultancy and other preparation efforts.
Roma is said to be targeting a stadium with a basic capacity of 55,000 seats, rising to 62,000 for certain sports and entertainment events. Multi-purpose is a key goal for the facility, which is set to feature a club museum, Roma store, a sports bar and fans bar, a gym, kindergarten and a special section dedicated to esports.
Some 5,500 seats of the total capacity will be allocated to VIP offerings through the likes of skyboxes and other corporate seating. The new stadium is intended to be surrounded by greenery, with around 140,000 square metres of parkland around the venue.
This will be in addition to a 47,000 square metre area which will feature an outdoor amphitheatre and a sports centre with five courts apiece for tennis and padel, along with three for basketball and three football pitches.
Roma is also seeking to provide 4,044 parking spaces and 10,000 stalls for bicycles and motorcycles, as it aims to meet a target that the majority of fans utilise public transport to travel to games.
Roma chief executive Pietro Berardi met with Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, on October 3 as the club looks to begin work on its new home. The meeting saw Berardi transfer the club’s stadium plans to the city, and reports suggest that Roma is hopeful of moving into the new venue by 2027, when the club will celebrate its centenary.
Roma detailed plans to build a new stadium in Pietralata back in July, stating at the time that the Roma Capitale administrative body “positively acknowledged” the willingness of the club to present a feasibility study.
Confirmation of Roma’s plans came after it was reported in May that the club had issued the first draft of a project that would see a stadium with a seating capacity between 55,000 and 60,000 developed on a plot of land owned by the Municipality of Rome.
The proposal marked the first significant move on a new stadium by the Friedkin group, since the club in February 2021 dropped plans for a new stadium in the Tor di Valle neighbourhood of the city.
Roma had long held plans for a new stadium in Tor di Valle but a change in ownership at the club in August 2020 cast fresh doubt over the project. Following February 2021’s announcement, the club said it was still committed to exploring options for a new stadium at a number of sites.
The Stadio della Roma project was central to former owner James Pallotta’s long-held vision for the club, which has shared the Stadio Olimpico (pictured) with cross-city rival SS Lazio, which is also exploring stadium options, since it opened in 1953. The project, which was first put forward in February 2012, centred on a 52,500-seat stadium but was hit by a number of delays.
