Milan – Aurelio De Laurentiis is raising his voice and reviving the dream of a new Napoli stadium. From the stage of the Football Business Forum at Bocconi University, the Napoli patron announced his willingness to finance the entire project himself, but is asking for a clear timeline and fewer obstacles from local institutions. "I'll finance the stadium, but someone in charge of the institutions is needed to speed up the procedures.", said the president, letting his frustration with the slowness of the administrative machine be understood.
The project is ambitious: a 70-seat facility, with 100 skyboxes, modern parking, and a redeveloped urban area around it, following models such as that of the Emirates Stadium in London. “I visited the Arsenal stadium: 200 lounges, 60.700 seats, and housing built around it to recoup the investment. In Italy, however, we're stagnant: Inter and Milan earn €14 million a game, we barely €3 million. And then they ask us to buy players worth €50 or €60 million.”
There was no shortage of direct jabs at the mayor of Napoli, Gaetano Manfredi, and the Public Works Councillor Edoardo Cosenza, accused of immobility and incompetence. "Manfredi and Cosenza know nothing about football. The authorities are the sport's worst enemies. We need flexibility, not bureaucracy." De Laurentiis then extended the controversy to the top echelons of international football, criticizing the management of national teams and the lack of overall vision: "Clubs pay salaries, then players return injured. There's no leadership, just managers who think about their wallets."
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De Laurentiis's speech on Napoli's new stadium is interesting, but it seems to me that there are many problems to be solved. Bureaucracy in Italy is always an obstacle, and I don't know if it will actually be possible. Institutions should also listen more.