When AC Milan and city rivals Inter jointly revealed the design of their planned new stadium on Thursday, one thing stood out in particular - the name. The 71,500-seater arena the clubs aim to share from 2031 onwards, replacing the iconic San Siro, will be called the Generali Stadium. Generali is an Italian insurance company, and the firm has agreed to pay about 650m euros (£542m) for naming rights through to 2052.
The length and value of the agreement makes it one of the most lucrative naming-rights deals in sports history. Stadium naming rights are, of course, nothing new in elite football. The champions of England and Germany both play in arenas built in the 21st century that have always been known by their sponsors' name, and plenty more stadiums across the continent have been partly financed by revenue from naming rights.
But in recent years, some clubs have struggled to sell them. It was thought that both Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham would look to sell the rights to their new stadiums' names, but as yet neither have. Liverpool aimed to sell the name of a new stand they built in 2016 but no such deal has been agreed.
So, what do these stadium plans mean for AC Milan and Inter, what underpins the viability of expensive new football grounds, and what impact do culture and history have? Saturday, 31 October - live from AC Milan and Inter are owned by separate US-based investment firms and in the joint announcement described the Generali Stadium as "a new home for generations of supporters, and a destination designed to contribute to the cultural, economic and urban development of the city". The demolition of San Siro has been discussed for decades, and the clubs believe its deterioration and lack of modern features are significant reasons behind their progressive fall lower down the pecking order at the top of European football.
The new stadium is expected to cost about 1.2bn euros (£1bn) to construct, and the clubs aim to generate income by selling just under 12,000 of the seats as premium or hospitality, and host a wider array of events like concerts and fixtures in other sports. "This is the biggest stadium naming-rights deal in the history of global sports," AC Milan owner Gerry Cardinale told BBC Sport. "That’s a significant achievement in its own right and especially in the context of having been done in Italy and what it means to bring Italy back to the world stage of football.
"But if you’re looking at this purely as an annual sponsorship payment, you’re missing the bigger picture. "The stadium is what fundamentally transforms our economic model - matchday revenues, hospitality, premium experiences, entertainment and commercial opportunities. "These are the things that allow us to compete with the biggest clubs in Europe." AC Milan have played at San Siro for 100 years, while Inter moved in 1947.
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