Featured image credit: Arco Associati
A redevelopment project has been presented for Milan’s Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, also known as the San Siro, in a bid to persuade Serie A clubs AC Milan and Inter Milan to remain at their current home instead of building new stadiums.
The project, which will cost around €300m (£256m/$324m), is being led by architectural studio Arco Associati. The plans, which were first reported last month, would see a new-look San Siro feature a capacity of 75,000, 5,000 more than the two venues Milan and Inter are proposing, and around 800 less than the stadium’s current capacity.
A press conference was held yesterday (Wednesday) at the headquarters of the Municipality of Milan to present the project. Inter and Milan would be able to continue playing at the stadium while the redevelopment takes place.
The new-look stadium would also feature commercial spaces, restaurants, bars, suites, wellness spaces and offices. Some 10,000 seats would be reserved for premium seating.
The project would centre on the addition of a fourth tier to the stadium bowl. Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala has expressed his backing for the proposal but it remains to be seen whether Inter and Milan will be in favour of the project.
“The most important thing is that the work can be done without closing the stadium and this is a decisive question,” said Sala. “I understand the clubs who say that in the event of redevelopment they would have to move to a small stadium for two years, causing inconvenience to the fans and therefore it would be a problem.
“It is clear that as mayor of Milan and the metropolitan city I would do nothing to oppose the hypothesis of new stadiums in municipalities other than Milan. This doesn’t mean we can’t argue with the fact that we have to do everything we can to keep the teams in Milan.”
In October, the Municipality launched an appeal against a decision placing protected status on the stadium, effectively preventing any efforts to redevelop the venue. The Municipality has said it would present an appeal to the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) of Lombardy-Milan to secure an annulment of the opinion presented by the Archaeological, Fine Arts and Landscape Superintendence for the Metropolitan City of Milan on July 26, followed by another from the Regional Commission for the Cultural Heritage of Lombardy on July 27.
These related to the classification of the second tier of the Meazza, along with the west stand, as structures of cultural interest. The Municipality’s appeal is scheduled to be heard on March 14, while any fresh attempts to redevelop the Meazza would also have to convince the two clubs.
Last week, the Municipality of San Donato Milanese commenced the process to deliver a new 70,000-seat stadium for AC Milan, with the project clearing its first major bureaucratic hurdle.
The Municipal Council approved an initial proposal presented by the club in September, when it officially announced for the first time that it was pursuing a new stadium project away from the San Siro.
Inter, meanwhile, in December launched a fan consultation initiative related to its proposed move to a new 70,000-seat stadium in the municipality of Rozzano. In October, Inter offered a glimpse of life after the San Siro by revealing initial concept images from Populous of a new stadium that it hopes will open ahead of the 2028-29 season.
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