Getty Images
- Clubs pay €197m to city council
- Stadium project could reportedly cost as much as €1.5bn
AC Milan and Inter Milan have completed the acquisition of the San Siro and confirmed plans to demolish and replace the famous stadium with a new venue.
The deal, which also includes the surrounding area of the stadium, was financed by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as co-lead arrangers, as well as the two clubs’ banking partners, Banco BPM and BPER Banca.
The new 71,500-capacity stadium will be designed by architecture firms Foster + Partners and Manica. The arena will be the centrepiece of a large urban regeneration project.
Milan and Inter have paid a reported €197 million (US$227 million) to the city council to take control of the structure and surrounding land.
No completion date has been given for the project, though it has been reported that the aim is for the venue to be ready in time to stage matches at Uefa Euro 2032, which is being co-hosted by Italy and Turkey.
Designs for the new stadium will be published in the first half of 2026 and the project could cost around €1.5 billion (US$1.7 billion), according to BBC Sport.
Milan have played at the San Siro since 1926 and Inter have called it home since 1947.
SportsPro says…
The San Siro is considered one of soccer’s truly iconic stadiums and its impending demolition will be a bitter pill to swallow for many.
However, the venue hasn’t been fully modernised since the 1990 Fifa World Cup, and in the years since Serie A has fallen behind the likes of the Premier League and LaLiga in the commercial pecking order. A new stadium is deemed necessary by Milan and Inter if they are to close that gap.
Getting to this point has been difficult. Plans to renovate the ageing San Siro were scrapped and both clubs had considered building individual stadiums before opting to join forces on this project. It will be the first soccer venue to be built in Italy since Juventus opened their 41,000-seater Allianz Stadium in Turin 14 years ago.
The plan doesn’t end with a new stadium to hold Milan and Inter games. The goal is to create a multi-purpose, 365-day-a-year venue capable of hosting non-soccer events, as seen at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Real Madrid’s newly renovated Santiago Bernabeu.
Doing so will add millions of euros to the balance sheets of Milan and Inter, who posted record revenues of €494.5 million (US$569.4 million) and €567 million (US$653 million), respectively, for 2024/25, but still want their income to match that of richer heavyweight European clubs.
It will be a wrench for soccer traditionalists to see the San Siro go. But Milan and Inter have already felt the financial effects of not moving with the times.
Get access to richer content, exclusive reports, unparalleled business intelligence, and community benefits to help you navigate the next frontier of sport and make more informed decisions with a SportsPro+ Premium membership. Discover more here.