A "category four" stadium. The highest level recognized by UEFA. A football Holy Grail capable of generating €1 billion, according to estimates, between now and 2075, complemented by VIP areas and a green-covered hotel with locker rooms. More food and merchandise, music and events. Cagliari's new Sant'Elia stadium looks top-of-the-line even before receiving the final green light (at the end of the month, if all goes well). But if Euro 2032 seems the raison d'être, it's football itself that's driving the dream: matches will stop being 90-minute grassroots cheering and become entertainment seven days a week. It's that "stadium economy" that transforms sports facilities into "functional hubs," as they call them, where time, every moment, is marked by revenue. Achieved or missed. A business model that the Region has aligned itself with, awarding Cagliari football club €50 million "as a balancing contribution to compensate for the decision to abandon the construction of a retail park." The preliminary project envisaged it. Then the excerpt. Graveyard.

Regulatory framework

"I believe stadium construction should be done without public support, so as not to distort competition," says Marco Bellinazzo, a journalist for Il Sole 24 Ore and Italy's leading expert on the subject. However, the current regulatory framework allows for forms of co-financing that compensate for ancillary projects. These projects, such as the construction of shops, were previously authorized under special arrangements, but distorted the market. In the wake of administrative conflicts generated by overly broad concession rules, the 2013 Stadium Law was revised, "allowing public participation and blocking projects that would be detrimental to the local economy." Bellinazzo extends this reasoning to hotels, the new revenue stream associated with stadiums, "but their construction cannot ignore the existing supply." Hospitality is also the item that causes expenses to rise: in Cagliari it reaches 7,200 euros per seat, compared to 3,500 in a non-multipurpose stadium, considering the capacity of 30,076 people and the total cost of 218,621,208 euros.

The countermeasures

Cagliari's deal is also being played out on this very issue, so much so that the City Council has decided to entrust legal assistance for the new Sant'Elia stadium to Velia Leone, a Sardinian lawyer with an office in Rome and an expert in mixed partnerships. This is particularly protective of the feared litigation, especially after the initial concession for use was converted into a surface right. "When a public entity participates in the investment with its own resources," Bellinazzo continues, "we generally avoid granting the private NewCo ownership of the property: the surface right, which was also granted to Juventus in Turin, is something very similar." Indeed, with this arrangement, the completed work can be resold. In theory, it can even be mortgaged, but this possibility was removed from the Economic-Financial Plan despite Cagliari Calcio's initial request. With the concession for use, the Rossoblu club would not acquire the surface ownership which, according to the law, gives them the right to put the stadium on the market.

Long-term accounts

Deloitte, the British advisor entrusted by Cagliari with drafting the Economic and Financial Planning Document, estimates that the new Sant'Elia stadium will generate €1 billion over the fifty-year term of the concession, assuming constant inflation of 1.8%. "In the clubs' budgets," Bellinazzo concludes, "matchday revenues, the traditional box office revenues, are destined to become secondary. Cash will come from non-matchdays, food and beverage sales, and high-end hospitality—activities that have less and less to do with football." Parking, which in Cagliari, as per another revised agreement, will be free, is not included in the calculation. In the background, the unknown factor of the Newco remains: who will be involved? The Americans, currently holding 49%, could aim higher once the club secures the building permit.

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