One of the key objectives for AC Milan’s owners RedBird Capital is to build a new state of the art stadium, and they may well have settled on a site.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) it is the San Donato area has gained momentum in recent weeks, having moved away from the La Maura idea which seemed for some time to be the most functional solution.
San Donato Milanese is an area to the south-east of the Lombard capital, well served by public transport and it is the project could really start to take shape in the fastest time. We have already done a deep-dive on the region when it first emerged as an idea in April.
Looking at the location, the area is located between the beginning of the eastern ring road and the junction of the A1 motorway, which means motorists arriving from the south see it on their way in or out.
The site is enclosed between two of the main Milanese thoroughfares, one to the east and the other to the west. It is a spot that the Milan owners have had their eye on for a year, believing it could mark the ‘gateway to Milan’.
Such visibility would be an exceptional driving force in commercial terms, especially when it comes to naming rights. A good example is Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena which is also on a major highway outside the city centre.
It has been calculated that the two major roads are traveled by car by about five million people a year. A rough forecast indicates that in advertising terms, the value of commercial returns would increase by about 30 percent.
Milan initially had nine projects in hand to evaluate, then reduced to a short list of three, with feasibility studies and methodological reports already examined by president Scaroni.
Which studios are candidates for the assignment of the design project? David Manica (the one who did the ‘two rings’ design for the new San Siro, which lost to Populous), Populous themselves and Gensler.
The other advantages of the area is that it already approved for sporting use and is private, meaning referendums would be avoided.
Once Milan have picked the studio to entrust the project to, the bureaucratic process would involve presenting the feasibility study and the economic-financial plan to the Municipality of San Donato, which would then have to respond with the public interest.
Among the cons of the area is that the size (22.5 hectares) would limit commercial activities and parking, another delicate issue as well as the road system (undoubtedly the biggest problem).
The San Donato railway station – which overlooks the area – and the underground are around 1.5km away too, but there is the hypothesis of adding another stop.
Absolutely unbelievable than it’s been a year since the stadium is the highest priority and they’re still evaluating locations.
If its that easy not only Juve will have they own stadium in Italy