Roma President Looks for Locations for New Stadium

Serie A team AS Roma, capsule new president Thomas DiBenedetto has identified potential sites for a new stadium for the club as it seeks a move from its current Stadio Olimpico home.

DiBenedetto’s American consortium was confirmed as the new owner of the Serie A club in August, viagra pills | bringing an end to a long-winded takeover saga. The new ownership group, which is 60% owned by DiBenedetto’s investors and 40% owned by Italian bank UniCredit, acquired a 67% stake of Roma for Eur60 million ($94.5m).Having bought Italpetroli’s stake in the club, Di Benedetto’s group will be obliged to make an offer to purchase the remaining 33% of the club.

DiBenedetto told Bloomberg: “We have more meetings coming up but I believe there are potentially a couple of sites that are viable. Ideally the earliest you could be talking is three years from now but more likely five years.”

Fellow Serie A team Juventus opened a new 40,000-seat stadium this season becoming the first Italian team to own its own facility. Roma and city rival SS Lazio rent the Stadio Olimpico, which was developed for the 1960 Olympic Games, from the Italian Olympic Committee. The stadium seats 72,000 and features a running track, a common trend in Italian football that has contributed to criticism over poor atmosphere at games. Roma’s average crowd of 33,628 last season saw it generate Eur31 million ($49m) in ticket sales, about Eur83 million ($131m) less than English Premier League teams like Arsenal and Manchester United.

DiBenedetto’s remarks come after the Italian government is set to pass a new law within the next month which will facilitate the development of privately-owned stadia. Since Italy hosted the 1990 FIFA World Cup the stadiums have received a none to little improvement prompting officials to become concerned about the ability of Italian clubs to compete against their English and Spanish counterparts

DiBenedetto added: “It’s become quite critical to have an experience at your stadium or ballpark that is special. You have to create an experience and if you don’t, people are not going to come. I think that’s happened to a certain extent in Italy.”