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Many fans have been upset at the apparent lack of progress in renovation planning between Napoli and the city of Naples to modernize and upgrade the Stadio San Paolo. After a couple small flurries of news on the subject during the summer, there's been almost nothing news wise during the season. That's left fans frustrated and wondering what, if anything, is going on.
Just because things are quiet, though, doesn't mean that there's been no progress made at all in planning the renovations. So says Napoli operations chief Alessandro Formisano:
"Even if you do not talk about it, that does not mean that you are not working. We certainly need to meet [with the city] to polish some details, but this will be discussed in January. It 'a broad topic, the deadline is not necessarily a requirement.
"The San Paolo is a [hole] in the budget of Napoli."
-Source: Tuttonapoli
Formisano has always been pretty forthright when talking about business-related matters for the club, and this is no exception. We also know some work has already begun, as the club and city have been working to re-open several sections that were closed for safety and security concerns. After this planning meeting in January, we could see significantly more work begin to bring the San Paolo up to the full glory the building is capable of.
Formisano also brings up a topic that we've discussed before, that the stadium in it's current state is costing the club dearly. That doesn't just come in the form of actual hard financial losses, but also in "opportunity costs," in this case meaning potential income lost because Napoli had no way to actually generate it. Modernizing the San Paolo isn't just about making it pretty, it's about opening up new revenue streams for Napoli and making the club able to better compete financially with the bigger clubs around Europe.
Hopefully we learn more details soon as to what all will be done to the San Paolo and when we can expect it to be done. In the meantime, we wait, and hope for the best.