Antonello: “Without the stadium we lose 60 million for the market. New project has 70,000 seats”

The Champions League will have more teams and new clubs will be able to meet: we will see new games. The idea of ​​expanding the number of teams is the system’s first response to the Super League: we must ensure that even the minor league clubs have the opportunity to participate in the competitions. Today, however, finding a balance in the equitable distribution of resources is the correct theme. In two/three years we are facing football reforms that we would never have thought of: all because we have to combine the fact that economic liberalism can bring resources to football, but also to support the minor leagues as well. This combination between the globalization of football and the protectionism of local leagues is something we will have to work on: we cannot think of being crushed at an international level. We have to focus on young people, look at the territory: we look at globalization, instead the opposite reasoning must be done and understand how to bring football back to schools and in the suburbs. It is from there that the infrastructures are created to be able to give the champions to the teams”.

TV RIGHTS – “We said it to each other with La Liga, the gap is really very big. We are talking about a value of international rights of around 300 million euros, when La Liga is around 2 billion. What does it mean: it means that in the last years, especially in the last decade, Italy has not invested, we have not been able to face the international markets adequately and to go as an Italian and Serie A product to countries that still live today in the golden age of the 90s, where they still see something very important in the Italian football product.

And if you don’t cultivate and dominate these territories, if you don’t try to keep them alive, it is clear that contacts and value are lost, and consequently other more structured leagues have managed to grab these markets. We have to go back to investing internationally, also because we have an appeal that other leagues don’t have. In the last 4 years 4 different teams have won the Italian championship, alternating until the last day. Great credit to Napoli this year, but the championship remained open on participation in the European cups until the last day. European competitions are essential for clubs, the economic resources they make available are essential to compete.

STADIUM – We have always been consistent, we have always believed that a new system was the correct choice. We believe that the value of being at San Siro is also the historical link of the area, therefore being able to equip the club with a modern facility can give supporters an experience in which fans can enjoy a show not only in the 90 minutes, but even before and after and that we can live 7 days out of 7. It is clear that there are constraints, the administration has taken all the steps and after four years we are still wondering if it is possible to get the green light for a plant: we are still subject to the verification of the constraint on the second ring, it should start in 2025. Here too we demonstrate where our Italian genius can take us (laughs, ed). We lose 50/60 million per club every year: these are resources that would be used to strengthen the team and compete at a European level.

We believe that San Siro is the right place: when we build a new stadium that has the same emotional characteristics as San Siro but is modern, I think the fans are smart and I think they can imagine that the new stadium is just as beautiful and exciting. We too were surprised, there was so much enthusiasm at the beginning of the journey: in four years in a city like Milan we still don’t have an answer today. The capacity? We had come from years in which the average was lower, we have already raised it to 70 thousand people in the review of the executive project: we believe it is the correct threshold. We can think of having a stadium for even 100,000 people, but we must be able to have a constant percentage of occupancy: 70,000 is the correct size for Milan. It is true that post-pandemic we have had important numbers because for 7 years Inter have been first in terms of participation, exceeding 72,000 seats. To say that we have not done business finds me in total disagreement: I have personally been working on the project for four years. If an entrepreneur and a property work to do business but are not given the opportunity to do so, it can be said: we have the will to do business. If we can’t do it in Milan, we’ll do it elsewhere.”