Forty months of construction and an investment, including VAT, of €218,621,208 will give Cagliari a new stadium. A second Sant'Elia, replacing the old one: in the collective imagination, it's already romantically named after Gigi Riva-Rombo di tuono, although in the Economic and Financial Plan (PEF), the bible of costs and revenues where everything is monetized, the reasons of the heart will hardly find room. The construction schedule is climbing towards the European Football Championship, in 2032. UEFA wants guarantees on the completion time. But month after month, the calendar slips forward. More than one stroke of the pen has intervened, over time, on the design documents. Between fine-tuning and substantive corrections, the final mile seems never-ending.

Capital and loans

The city is unfamiliar with investments like this. The funds are non-repayable: €50 million from one, €10 million from the other. SFIRS, the Sardinian financial institution, is also involved, 100% publicly owned, and is ready to enter the game with a €30 million project bond. Technically, a special-purpose bond. In practice, a debt instrument with which the future New Company of the stadium, Cagliari Calcio or whoever it represents, promises to build "a sustainable arena capable of guaranteeing innovation, technology, and Sardinian character." The other financing line, €49,657,760, is bank-funded. An additional €14,260,508 will be provided in the form of a VAT facility, a sort of bridging loan as an advance on VAT reimbursement, pending the state's repayment of the amount. Another €4,202,940 could be covered through the same process. The total is €158,121,208. To reach the total investment, a further €60.5 million is needed. This is the Equity component of the PEF, the private capital, which will be shed light on by Tommaso Giulini, the owner.

Football and more

The "stadium and surrounding areas" will occupy 100,000 square meters, including 5,000 parking spaces. There's also a "premium offering," as Deloitte, the British advisor overseeing the PEF, calls it: the five-star hotel of the new Sant'Elia, 126 rooms to be nestled into one of the stadium's four sides, plus 2,000 square meters of MICE (meeting area), the acronym for conference tourism. Also in the works is a 4,200-square-meter wellness center, "the largest in Sardinia," the stadium's declared boast.

Regulatory context

The red and blue bricks will be lined up on public land. Hectares that can't be bought. At any price. This is why Sant'Elia's project is tied to obtaining a building permit. It's regulated by the Civil Code, and granted by the Municipality, the owner, who preferred this legal solution over a concession for use. But the City Council will have the final say. After that, demolition of the old stadium can begin to make way for the new one.

The concession

The agreement (for now) is for the NewCo to establish itself on municipal land for fifty years, in exchange for the payment of an annual fee. In the first version of the Economic and Financial Planning Document (PEF), filed at the end of 2025, it was set at €50,000 for the entire duration of the concession; in the updated Plan, dated April 7, the fee doubled for the first twenty-five years, rising to €100,000, while over the following fifteen years it will quadruple to €200,000. On November 23, 2018, the stadium's capacity was increased from 25,200 to 30,076. Otherwise, there would be no kick-off for the 2032 European Championship. Twenty-six skyboxes overlook the pitch. Private and exclusive lounges. Plus twelve suites. At the Sant'Elia, food and drink will be available in the stadium's twenty kiosks, covering a total of 2,455 square meters. Shopping is elsewhere: the shopping center has been removed from the project. It was supposed to be a GLA (gross leasable area), measuring one and a half hectares. The only shop allowed is the Fan Store, the club's official retail outlet. Only red and blue purchases are permitted. Everything else is prohibited.

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