A.C. Milan home venue plans in San Donato

Article posted by Coliseum, June 16^th, 2023

Image: MANICA & Sportium

The Serie A club A.C. Milan have officially kicked off the process for building a standalone home venue of their own in the San Francesco area of San Donato in Milan, Italy.

Earlier, the club had set its sights on the La Maura area in Milan, Italy, to build their home arena.

‘sempremilan.com’ stated that on June 15^th, reports emerged in the media that the planned venue of A.C. Milan in San Donato capacity will stand at 60,000. However, the ‘Rossoneri’ have made it clear that they are yet to decide on the stadium capacity.

The A.C. Milan or simply Milan is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980-1981 and 1982-1983 seasons, in the top flight of Italian football, known as Serie A since 1929-1930.

Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in Europe, and the largest in Italy.

‘sempremilan.com’ further stated that going by the fact that circa 72,000 spectators (per game) on average attended A.C. Milan matchups this season, the 60,000-capacity idea should be revisited.

Sources, however, stated that A.C. Milan has not made any final decision as regards the capacity of the planned venue and they are considering building a 65,000 to 70,000 capacity facility. A venue above 70,000-capacity will cost a bomb.

The A.C. Milan definitely needs a stadium which will be able to hold 70,000 spectators. And Gerry Cardinale and his team know that a stadium with higher capacity will facilitate the arena to host FIFA and UEFA soccer showcases.

Gerry Cardinale is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Partner of RedBird Capital, the principal investment firm based in the United States that owns A.C. Milan. The RedBird Capital Partners bought A.C. Milan from Elliott Management at the start of the 2022-2023 seasons, on August 31^st, to be exact, in a deal worth $1.2 billion.

New York (US)-based the RedBird Capital Partners is a private investment firm focused on building high-growth companies with flexible, long-term capital in partnership with its Entrepreneur and Family Office Network. Founded by former Goldman Sachs Partner Gerry Cardinale, RedBird today manages over $8.6 billion of capital principally across its Sports, TMT, Financial Services, and Consumer Industry verticals.

New York (US)-based Elliott Investment Management is an American investment management firm. It is also one of the largest activist funds in the world. It is the management affiliate of American hedge funds Elliott Associates L.P. and Elliott International Limited.

Earlier, it was reported that the top-flight teams – A.C. Milan and Inter Milan new venue dreams (‘The Cathedral’) will just remain a dream as an injunction against demolishing the San Siro is set to come into effect. The injunction will come into effect in 2025, on the 70th anniversary of the construction of the stadium’s second tier.

‘The Cathedral’ was being planned as a celebration of the artistic and cultural heritage of Milan (Italy). Its design was inspired by two of the most famous buildings in the City – the Duomo di Milano and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele – and would have resulted in a unique stadium that would have stood out from any other sporting arena in the world and would have served as the home venue of Italy’s top-rung clubs Inter-Milan.

On June 24^th, 2019, A.C. Milan and Inter Milan announced their intention to build a new stadium to replace the San Siro. The new 60,000-capacity stadium, which would was planned to be constructed next to the San Siro, was anticipated to cost US$800 million and was earlier expected to be ready for the 2022-2023 seasons.

In December 2021, the top-notch clubs announced that the celebrated design studio Populous’ project – ‘The Cathedral’ – was being selected for their new stadium.

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