AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni refused to be drawn on the controversy regarding last night’s game against Chelsea, instead preferring to talk about the differences between the clubs off the field.
The Rossoneri president Scaroni spoke to the reporters who were present at the latest meeting for the public debate section of the project for the new stadium, with his comments relayed by Calcio e Finanza.
“We lost to Chelsea yesterday, I don’t want to talk about football but about money. Chelsea collect from their stadium more than double what Milan collects. I have been to Stamford Bridge, I saw how it is structured which by the way is in the centre of London, it certainly does not have the spaces of other facilities but in any case Chelsea is clearly more than double that of Milan,” he said.
“Competing with clubs that have much higher financial means than ours makes us leave in a state of inferiority. Money isn’t everything, but it plays a very big role. We want to equip Milan and Inter with a stadium that allows us to have revenues and offer the spectacle that our European competitors have.”
Calcio e Finanza recently reported that Milan and Inter plan to invest over €1.2bn on a new stadium that will be a state of the art facility aimed at moving the clubs into the modern era of football.
The teams estimate revenue growth to €120.4m, of which €80m would come from the stadium itself and €40m from the multi-purpose sector around it. That is a sharp increase on what San Siro currently generates, given that it is rented form the council.
A total of 80 months of work is expected, with Milan and Inter hoping to see ground broken on January 1, 2024 so as to guarantee the opening of the Patroclus underpass to traffic for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Wealthy people really think differently. And I agree that not talking about the refereeing disaster packs a heavier punch to UEFA’s face than complaining about it would. They bring in these clowns to referee important matches, make the matches look like a circus show, and they pee on their own brand just like that.