The Japan Times - Milan mayor aiming to sell San Siro to Inter and AC Milan by the summer

Speaking to radio station RTL 102.5, Giuseppe Sala said that he was hoping to receive on Tuesday a formal feasibility study, including a purchase offer, from the two clubs which he would then pass to Milan's city council.

"The aim is to sell the stadium and the area surrounding it by the start of the summer holidays," said Sala.

Giants of European football, Inter and Milan have long desired to replace the current San Siro with a modern area, and in October relaunched a joint project which was abandoned in 2023 after it spent over three years winding its way through the bureaucratic and political corridors.

A new feasibility study for the project, which was originally priced at 1.3 billion euros, will be revised to include only a partial demolition of the city-owned San Siro, the site of which would be used for green space and a range of sports facilities and entertainment venues.

Before any demolition happens a new stadium, which in the previous project was planned to have a capacity of 60,000 but this time has reportedly been increased to over 70,000, would be built in the area to the immediate west of the current ground which is occupied by car parking and a local park.

The key difference this time round is that Inter and Milan would purchase rather than rent that land, with work to begin not before next year's Winter Olympics for which the current San Siro will host the opening ceremony.

"It will take a few years, and when the new stadium is ready the clubs will renovate the old stadium, which in my opinion will stay in place as it is now until 2030," added Sala.

- Political unease -

It is important for the clubs and Sala that the San Siro and surrounding land is sold soon as if it is still in public hands by the end of this year, a building protection order preventing the demolition of the current stadium's second tier will automatically come into effect.

However there has been unease from Milan city councillors across the political spectrum, with anger at what they see as a bypassing of local democracy as Sala tries to force through the project in order not to become the mayor who allowed two of the world's biggest football clubs leave the city.

In 2023, in the wake of the previous project being abandoned, AC Milan acquired land in the nearby town of San Donato Milanese for 40 million euros while Inter looked at sites in Rozzano and Assago, also to the south of the city.

If the clubs moved elsewhere it would be politically costly for Sala's centre-left administration but also leave Italy's economic capital with a huge unused stadium on its outskirts, which would no longer bring in seven million euros in annual rent and would have to be either repurposed or knocked down.

Fans meanwhile have expressed concern that a new stadium would lead to further increases in ticket prices and high-end hospitality areas replacing seats for regular supporters who regularly number more than 70,000 for both teams' home matches.

T.Ikeda--JT