On the auction-rigging investigation: “I’m not particularly worried because first of all there was no tender. The Municipality of Milan, by its own choice from which we are totally extraneous, has set up a procedure – also foreseen by the stadium law – which provides for the collection of expressions of interest, therefore there was no tender and therefore there cannot have been any disturbance. Frankly I believe that it is a bit of a backlash from the opponents of this project who for many years have been fighting to prevent us from achieving this objective which we consider essential for Milan, Inter and for the city of Milan.”
About RedBird and investing: “Among other things, we like Milan, who own RedBird, which makes investments in sports infrastructure by profession, and therefore we consider ourselves particularly equipped to do something beautiful, healthy, that everyone will like. We will make an investment of more than 1 billion euros without asking the public for a penny, it will be all the private money from our American funds. It seems to me to be a positive thing that there is nothing to be ashamed of, on the contrary. We will build a new stadium next to today’s Meazza, which we will continue to use until 2030, then when the new stadium comes into operation and we absolutely need it to come into operation before 2032, because the Meazza has been declared unsuitable by UEFA for international competitions, so it must be ready from that moment.”
In the surrounding areas: “In the area currently occupied by the Meazza we will build a hotel, a small shopping center and we will put the headquarters of Milan and Inter, we will put the museums of the two teams and we will make a sports area next to the new stadium. I have always defined the San Siro area as a wasteland, in the sense that I consider it an area that is either too empty or too full: too full when the matches are on, but for the rest of the time it is empty, completely empty and dark to the point that it is scary also to walk in that area. We have in mind a stadium that is always alive, day in and day out, even when there are no matches, with restaurants and entertainment points. Something similar to what all the big European cities have, such as Real Madrid, which has seven restaurants in operation all the time.”
Scaroni: “This is why we denied the renovation of San Siro”
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On the no to the renovation of San Siro: “Unfortunately not, essentially for two reasons. The first is that a renovation would not have allowed us to create the most beautiful stadium in Europe which is our objective. The second is that renovating a stadium that has two teams playing the championship and the cups, in which between 50 and 70 thousand spectators enter every three days, is impossible if you don’t have another stadium nearby to move to at least temporarily. Unfortunately, near Milan, there are no states that have a capacity even half that of the Meazza. So, based on all this we decided to make a much larger investment and build a new stadium next to the Meazza.”
On what the next steps will be: “After six years, I believe it, in fact I am absolutely certain that we will be able to build the new stadium. Let’s start quickly with the design and once the design is completed – within a year or a year and a half – we will begin construction. All this will allow us, I believe by 2030, to have an efficient and functioning stadium in the San Siro area”
On San Siro: “San Siro for me is a symbol of Milan. As a non-Milanese who loves Milan, I believe that Milan can also be an example in this field, because it is true that Milan needs a new stadium, but almost all of Italy also needs one. We have lost at least twenty years in sports investments and we must recover them. When we look at the other championships, or the last European championships that were held in Germany, we have seen the stadiums that Germany has and we have realized that we must make investments throughout our country. I think and hope that May the example of Milan invite everyone to follow us and make our football modern as it should be, to gain ground in international competitions”
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