AS ROMA NEWS – Guido Fienga, Roma’s former CEO and current advisor to the Saudi fund PIF, gave an interview to Corriere dello Sport at the Festival of Law and Economics, and among other topics he returned to talk about the old Giallorossi stadium project. Here are his statements.
A billion down the drain for the failure to build Roma’s stadium.
“The Italian infrastructure problem is central, and soccer is one of its most illustrious victims, although, alas, the real victim is Italy. We think we are in the vanguard when we announce the inauguration of infrastructures in Rome, whose latest works such as the Nuvola and the Auditorium Parco della Musica, however, took 20 years to be built and we should be ashamed because it took 20 years. In other parts of the world, 24 to 36 months pass between idea and inauguration. For us, it is more important to control than to build. Soccer is one of the most illustrious victims of this situation. This is said by someone who spent eight years for the construction of Roma’s new stadium to become a reality, totally financed by foreign private individuals who would bring capital to our country.
Instead of being favored or redirected-because no one wanted to spite the city and, if there were problems, they could be addressed-the project was fought almost like a religious war. So, in the end, those who were happy because the stadium did not get done should be happy that a billion dollars was not invested in our city; no jobs were created; and their team continues to be penalized by playing in a facility like you might play in a padel court, paying rent for every game you play.”
