AC Milan have been given the green light towards building a new stadium that will see them on the path towards self-sufficiency.

The club has been sharing its San Siro ground with arch rivals Inter Milan for several years, but even this ground does not belong to the club. Instead, it belongs to the city and hence there are no income and revenue to be had from this massive stadium. San Siro has a capacity of more than 80,000 fans. Now, Milan will be moving to a much smaller ground, but one that could get them around £ 50 million per year according to Barbara Berlusconi.

The daughter of president Silvio Berlusconi says that this is a massive step towards self-sufficiency and one that could see Milan once again fighting for the top players in the world. It has been several years since the club signed a real world class player. But it has been largely been down to the lack of funds provided by Berlusconi, who has been caught up in his own private battle. Instead of holding about 80,000 people like the San Siro, the new stadium is expected to have only around 48,000 seats. Still, this would fetch enough income for Milan according to Barbara.

“Today, with the decision of the Fondazione Fiera, we can officially begin the journey towards our new stadium. It is the first step, as we still need to present the entire project to the institutions for approval.This is still an historic day. Ours is foremost a cultural challenge. It is for Milan that we are proposing an urban stadium, to favour the development of the area that will play host to us, to make it more secure and a symbol for the city, to completely change the mentality of those who come to the stadium by providing services and entertainment that go beyond the 90 minutes of the game,” said Barbara.