While closing the 2020 balance sheets, the Roma board of directors announced that they will no longer move forward with the project to build a new stadium in the Tor di Valle area, which was pursued by the previous ownership, as its execution has been deemed impossible.
The €800M plan ideated by James Pallotta, on top of a 50k-seat arena, featured relevant infrastructures, including a new train station and a new motorway, commercial facilities, hotels and apartments. The process started eight years ago but was continuously delayed to accommodate the demands of the local administration, which was initially resistant, then to address the hydrological risk of the site and due to the restrictions on an old building that was supposed to be torn down. Furthermore, the builder that owned the real estate was arrested on corruption charges. The issues were ultimately considered too hard to overcome to break ground in an acceptable period of time.
The current management pointed out that the club would not have technically owned the stadium but would have been the sole tenant, something they were not interested in. The Friedkin family will start over and will begin working with the local officials to find a new area with fewer entanglements. If everything goes well, the new projected could be ready by the end of 2021, eyeing an opening for the 2025/26 season, Il Messaggero reports.
The Roma board also indicated a €75M loss for the previous year, gave incumbent CEO Guido Fienga a two-year extension and made the official the hiring of former Juventus Maurizio Lombardo as chief football operating office.