AC Milan and city rival Inter have rejected a plan to renovate their San Siro stadium but revived proposals to build a new joint stadium on the same site, Mayor Giuseppe Sala said on Friday.
The move is the latest twist in a saga involving the two Serie A clubs and local authorities over the past five years.
“After a thorough analysis, the clubs concluded that the [San Siro] “The stadium cannot be renovated in an affordable way… they don't think it's feasible,” Sala told reporters after a closed-door meeting with club representatives.
“They have raised the idea of returning to a new stadium in the San Siro area,” said Sala.
Inter and Milan see a new modern stadium as a way to boost their revenues, which are lagging behind those of their European peers.
The idea of restructuring the century-old San Siro and keeping it as the home of Milan and Inter was backed earlier this year by Sala after the teams signalled they wanted to build separate new stadiums on the outskirts of the city.
The clubs had previously been in talks with the city to build a new joint stadium to replace the aging San Siro, but the plan stalled amid political resistance and heritage rules protecting the stadium, which has a capacity of almost 80,000.
Milan and Serie A champions Inter are now controlled by US-based investment firms RedBird and Oaktree respectively, after the latter acquired Inter from Chinese firm Suning in May.
The clubs are now proposing to buy the areas surrounding the old stadium from the city of Milan and build a modern facility that would become their new joint stadium.
The clubs would become owners of the old San Siro, which would be reused.
Before moving forward, they have asked for an assessment of the economic value of the existing facility and surrounding areas, clarity on the extent of heritage protection for the site and setting a timeline for a possible agreement, the mayor said.
“It's a long story and I'm sorry, but it's not easy to build a stadium in Italy,” Sala added.
