Stadium talk

By: salvatore | April 11th, 2008

Well, in case you’ve been in a coma Lazio fans, you might be aware of a little stadium project Lotito has been trying to get off the ground for, oh, I don’t know, about four years now. It’s called Stadio Delle Aquile, and it’s supposed to feature a retractable, semi-transparent, environmentally-friendly roof, a seating capacity of 40-53 thousand (depending on which design version), an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a museum, and shops. Hell, the plan even called for a floor that would cover the grass during special events like concerts, and allow it to “breath”.

Basically, it’s the best slice of heaven seen around here since the punch-drunk scudetto days of Cragnotti.

Here are some renderings of the beauty, from above:

stadio delle aquile

And within:

Inside Aquile

Well, despite every Laziale’s hope for the project to get off the ground, it’s still awaiting approval, and looks increasingly unlikely to ever be built (even if Lotito mentioned it as recently as last week, stating, “we are focusing on the new stadium, which will become an international center and attraction…”). The crux of the problem, aside from Italy’s typically soul-crushing red tape, is land. Lotito has a ton of it in the Tiberina area, but the city won’t let him use it for the stadium. The land, you see, is reserved for agricultural use only, and local councilors have been unwilling to change its zoning.

To get them to change their minds, Lotito offered to donate 30 hectares for a park within the city, and then threatened to move the team out of Rome to Valmontone. Unfortunately for him, most Lazio fans would rather cut off their left hands than allow the first football team of Rome to leave the city of its birth…especially after discovering that the prospective land in Valmontone is also owned by Lotito, which seems a bit self-serving, to say the least.

Lotito

Because of all this, a plan arose last year that involved moving the team from the Olimpico to the Stadio Flaminio. The idea was to restructure the building, refresh its seating and interior and add about 13 thousand extra seats to its current capacity of 30 thousand. On the surface, this seemed like the perfect alternative. It was reportedly going to be phased out as the home of the national rugby team. It’s in Rome, it has a Lazio history, there is no track separating the field from the fans, and most importantly, the whole thing would have cost a lot less than a brand new stadium.

Flaminio

The only problem? Lotito hates it. So that pretty much ended all that…

Until this week, when a local politician gave new life to the idea. His name is Giulio Pelonzi, and like every other politician trying to get a gig, he’s offering the moon, the sky and pretty much every single star in it. What are the specifics exactly? Approximately nine million Euros in renovations and restructuring, which would turn the Flaminio into a sort of Biancoceleste center, complete with space for conventions and a team museum.

Sound a little too good to be true? That’s because it’s mostly greasy political talk. Still, it does sound like an intriguing prospect, one that would improve numerous aspects of the team’s current situation, and give the fans something of a clear-cut symbol of where it’s headed.

Obviously, anyone with half a brain would choose that sparkling brand new gem that was to be Stadio Delle Aquile, but in the best interests of the team, Flaminio wouldn’t be all that bad either.

Let’s just hope some sort of headway (in either direction) is made in the near future.