AC Milan’s private equity owner Gerry Cardinale has pledged to build a new 70,000-seater “American-like” stadium for the Italian football club, pouring cold water over efforts by the city’s mayor to salvage its historic San Siro stadium.
Cardinale, managing partner of RedBird Capital Partners, told the FT Business of Football Summit in London on Thursday that the club was ready to move forward with the construction of its new stadium on the outskirts of the city.
“We’ve made more progress in 18 months than I think has ever been made in terms of a new stadium in Italy . . . we can start to do things differently [in football],” Cardinale said. “European football’s ecosystem needs to change.”