Milan’s city council on Tuesday approved the sale of the iconic San Siro stadium and its surrounding land to local football giants Inter Milan and AC Milan for 197 million euros ($230 million), clearing the path for its demolition and the construction of a state-of-the-art venue.
Built in 1926 and famously adorned with spiral staircases wrapping the exterior, the San Siro was renovated for the 1990 World Cup but now falls short of the modern amenities found in Europe’s top stadiums.
AC Milan and Inter, longtime co-tenants of the historic ground, view a new joint arena as crucial to boosting matchday revenue, which trails behind their continental rivals.
Last week, the clubs enlisted architectural firms Foster + Partners and Manica to design a 71,500-seat stadium as part of a wider redevelopment plan that will also include commercial and residential spaces.
First discussed in 2019, the plan to demolish San Siro and replace it with a modern facility faced opposition from politicians, local citizens' committees, and others who want to preserve one of Italian football’s temples.
"We have tried to turn over a new leaf, and we are only at the beginning,” Milan Deputy Mayor Anna Scavuzzo said after the nearly 12-hour city council session, which ended in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Under the clubs’ plans, San Siro, which will host the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in February, will continue to stage matches until the new stadium is ready nearby.
The old ground will be demolished except for a heritage section comprising part of its second tier.
Italy faces growing pressure to upgrade the quality of its stadiums, driven by foreign investors backing Serie A clubs and the need for more functional venues for the 2032 European Championship, which it will co-host with Türkiye.
Officially known as the Giuseppe Meazza, after a forward who played for both AC Milan and Inter in the 1920s and 1940s, San Siro is Italy’s largest stadium, with a capacity of nearly 76,000, and also hosts live concerts.
Mayor Giuseppe Sala, backed by a center-left coalition, sought to promote its full revamp, but both Milan and Inter – owned by U.S. investment funds RedBird and Oaktree, respectively – called the idea unfeasible.
Sala eventually agreed to move ahead with the clubs’ proposal after they explored plans to build two separate stadiums on Milan’s outskirts, potentially leaving the city with an abandoned arena.