re: Milan unveils new stadium plans

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I'm surprised they can afford it with all the uncertainty over there...

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The finances of these stadiums are kept so separate from the club expenses that the majority of money comes from investors who eye the huge profits to be made from commercial infrastructure etc.

AS Roma, for example, as a club are not really paying out of pocket for anything for the stadium. Goldman Sachs, Starwood Hotel Investment Corp etc etc are because they stand to make a killing on the extra commercial development attached and therefore "sell" the stadium area itself to the club on an extremely long term plan, probably at a loss.



It's actually the other side of the coin as to why Italy has been so slow to build new stadiums. They have some of the strictest laws in the world regarding "speculation" in construction projects.

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Looks amazing. I've not been to Milan but I've heard it's pretty meh compared to other cities in Italy. Any truth to that?

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Yes, the city can seem kind of "gray" even if there's a lot of beautiful buildings. A bit like Torino as well, there's a very different vibe from the Italian cities to which tourists flock.

It's much more businesslike, lots of corporate worker bees, peripheral neighborhoods are mainly workers from the huge industrial complex etc etc. It can seem a lot more like midtown Manhattan just with Renaissance architecture.