AC Milans new stadium is perfect. Its smaller, its environmentally friendly and, most importantly, it will be theirs and only theirs.Right now, the Rossoneri share San Siro with Inter. Even then, they are only tenants living in someone elses house.The municipality around San Siro owns the stadium, not the clubs. Match-day revenue goes straight back to the public sector.Milan even pay rentaround 4.1 million, according toBen Gladwell of ESPNFCto the city council to play there.Theyre living a lot like a college student right now, struggling for money, selling what they can, hoping for a better future.Whats worse is that no one even cares to go watch the games anymore.According to Goal, fewer than 10,000 people showed up to see Milan lose to Lazio in the Coppa Italia two weeks ago. The place was a ghost town, with whole chunks of the stadium empty.Thats because Milan cannot fill San Siro by themselves any more. They are not a good enough draw. Of course, the big games still seem to matter. The highest attendance for any Serie A match this season was 79,173, when Milan hosted Juventus. But that's the point: Milan needed Juventus to fill their own stadium.So its time to take a step back. Plans for this new stadium limit the capacity at 48,000 people, roughly half of what San Siro can hold.It looks like Milan are shrinking, but they are only adapting to the environment in Italy at the moment.Italian clubs right now get most of their revenue from TV broadcasts. Fewer and fewer fans around the country are actually going to the games. Worldfootball.net indicates average attendance for all of Serie A hovers just above 20,000 people.The matches look terrible on TV. The lower rings of the stadium are lonely. There is no atmosphere to capture and convey to the viewers at home.A smaller stadium means a more populated stadium, a hotter ticket and more people watching more captivating television at home. The domino effect is massive.Plus, Milan will finally have a new revenue stream, as they will keep all the gate receipts.There is proof that it works. Since moving into their new stadium in 2011, Juventus have reduced losses and tripled their commercial revenue, per BBC Sport. They have several restaurants inside the complex and even a grocery store. People can go there for things unrelated to football.And thats the key: to make money even without the players being there.Milans new stadium should have all these things to offerand more. There are plans to build restaurants, playgrounds and a sports academy, according to Sky Sports. Thats a start.Concerts would be great too, considering the stadium will be completely soundproof, per Football Italia.Here are the first pics of the New AC Milan Stadium in the Portello-Fiera Milano City area, Pavilions 1 and 2 ARUP pic.twitter.com/MmTheEYbx4 AC Milan (@acmilan) February 4, 2015It will look like a mini-village, situated right beside the clubs headquarters in the region of Portello. Its close to transit and its a new area with lots of potential. Its all about centralizing the operation, which cuts costs and focuses the attention of the fans.They have a Milan store and museum already open in Casa Milan, and more attractions are expected to come.The stadiums are no longer meant only as a place for sporting events, although open all week, but as a useful piece to reorder the urban outlook of a city, a neighbourhood, Emilio Faroldi, professor of architectural technology at the Polytechnic of Milan, told La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t ACMilan.com).The bill for this project is not even much of a concern. Milan will fund the stadium, which will cost somewhere between 300 million and 320 million, through sponsorships, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Football Italia).Its also expected that they will auction off the naming rightsperhaps to Fly Emirates, much like Arsenals Emirates Stadium.Its going to look a lot more commercial than San Siro, for better and worse. Its not going to be the same majestic place, with those spiral columns rising high into the sky, a special place on the Champions League nights.San Siro right now. (via @arcticminnie) pic.twitter.com/Cp4ZjKMzID #MilanLazio Stereo Serie A Radio (@StereoSerieA) January 27, 2015But a new stadium is necessary if Milan want to win that tournament ever again.A better team is even more fundamental. Milan still have to showcase a competitive to team if they want to fill up their new stadium every week. But the boost in revenue, sales and sponsorships will pad the Rossoneri with the necessary money to build a better team.It could also lead Silvio Berlusconi to sell the team once and for all.A club with history like Milan, armed with plans for a new stadium, suddenly looks a lot more attractive to foreign businesspeople. According to Forbes, this team was worth around 756 million in May. Milan could jump to a figure closer to 1 billion if plans for these new stadium plans go through.There are so many more opportunities for Milan. And this is only the beginning.
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