AC Monza’s home will continue to be known as U-Power Stadium after a proposal was withdrawn to rename the venue after former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose family own the Serie A football club through the Fininvest holding company.
Following Berlusconi’s death on June 12, 2023, Councillor Martina Sassoli had put forward the proposal to honour his contribution to the club by renaming the venue otherwise known as Stadio Brianteo in his honour.
Following Fininvest’s takeover in September 2018, AC Monza gained promotion to Serie A for the first time in its history in the 2022-23 season. Owned by the Municipality of Monza, U-Power Stadium first opened in 1988 and previously had a limited capacity of around 10,000 before Serie A status was secured.
Berlusconi, who more famously previously owned AC Milan for over three decades, made significant investment in U-Power Stadium to bring its current capacity up to around the 17,000 mark. However, his chequered life story saw Sassoli ultimately withdraw the stadium renaming motion ahead of what was said to have been a heated Municipality of Monza meeting yesterday (Thursday).
The motion had called for the stadium to be renamed after Berlusconi for the sporting achievement of bringing Serie A football to AC Monza after 110 years of history, along with investment of €25m (£20.9m/$25.6m) in the stadium itself and the Monzello training ground.
However, the majority of councillors declared against such a move at yesterday’s meeting. “We are surprised that this request came from a councillor,” said Giulia Bonetti, according to MonzaToday. “I remember that Berlusconi had once promised the players a bus full of prostitutes in case of victory. He humiliated the female body and carried forward a patriarchal logic.”
Lorenzo Gentili, while noting the successes of Berlusconi’s career in business and sports, also highlighted the trials. He said: “Sporting merits are not enough to hide the negative sides of Berlusconi and that bus full of whores.” His colleague Francesco Racioppi added: “Berlusconi has contributed to the moral, cultural and political drift of our country. It is an immoral motion.”
However, the proposal did have its backers. Andrea Arbizzoni stressed the need to separate the sporting aspect from the human aspect of the individual. He said: “In Naples they named the stadium after Maradona for his sporting merits and not for the person he was. In other cities, they would have made streets of gold for Berlusconi, who after 110 years brought the team to the top division.”
Dario Allevi added: “I have heard so many bad words against Berlusconi, the contemptuous hatred of the left towards the political enemy, especially from the younger councillors. Berlusconi gave the city a dream, without ever asking for anything in return. We were deluded romantics to hope that this motion would pass.”
AC Monza’s CEO, Adriano Galliani, was questioned on the matter ahead of today’s Lega Serie A meeting in Milan. A long-time colleague of Berlusconi, Galliani said: “It’s a delicate subject that I prefer not to address.
“There was this statement last night and we, as Fininvest, will evaluate how to respond. It’s crazy and is better not to think about it or it will turn my mood upside down.”
