Roma stadium plan 'nearly ready'

Roma President James Pallotta assured fans they are “almost ready” to announce the construction of a new 60,000-seater stadium. The Giallorossi and their American owners aim to follow in the footsteps of Juventus in building their own arena.

“I would’ve used the Colosseum, but they told me it was being used,” laughed Pallotta in newspaper Il Sole 24 ore. All joking aside, we are nearly ready. We have already had numerous meetings with the Mayor of Rome and the council. We examined 100 potential sites, chose 12 and finally with advisors Cushman & Wakefield we got it down to a short-list of three areas. Now we are down to the final choice. The stadium, which will seat 60,000, include shops and restaurants, has been planned by world famous architect Dan Meis and must be ready for the 2016 European Championships.”

Fantastic news for Roma. With the example already set by Juventus, this is the only way Italian clubs will have of increasing their income in the coming years. The American owners seem to be very patient and understanding of the club needing to grow and haven't made rash decisions so far. Hopefully the stadium will have a bit of character to it, especially being built in a city like Rome.