“Without the Franchi renovation works being fully financed, the construction sites should not start and Fiorentina, given that it will be economically damaged, reserves the right to take action in the appropriate places to protect itself.” This, in a nutshell, is what Fiorentina president Rocco Commisso expressed a few hours before leaving Florence to return to the United States. The platform chosen was that of the club’s official channels, never mind having to answer questions from some colleagues, with the risk of distorting the script pinned under our noses.
“The Franchi stadium – said Commisso – is a problem. In recent days we met the Minister of Sport Abodi and the mayor Nardella and the concern about the future of the Franchi emerged in every meeting as it was clear to everyone that in order to complete the project is still missing at least 100 million euros.” It will have been clear to him, with the 55 million first defunded and then returned to the Metropolitan City of Florence, the Municipality, using it for projects already financed with its own resources, will then be able to divert the funds saved to the Franchi and the missing money would drop to 45 million. Necessary resources still to be found which according to the outgoing mayor would be even less, “25-30 million” he said at the end of February. Unforeseen events during the execution of the works are around the corner, but it must be recognized. With the construction of the private service car park a few days ago, “the total cost for Viola Park will be almost 130 million” said the owner of Viola in mid-April, forgetting to add that 130 million is double the estimated amount to build the sports center in November 2019.
“The only certainty we have – said Commisso – is that if the project goes ahead in the first year (the 2024-25 season, ed.) we will lose between 10 and 15 million, and this is a big problem for Fiorentina”. As should be known, next season the Franchi will see the Fiesole curve closed to the public, together with part of the Maratona and the lateral Grandstand; the works will guarantee a maximum capacity of 22,000 spectators, just over half of the seats offered by the Nervi facility. The question is: how can you lose 10-15 million if last season’s ticket revenue indicated in the company’s balance sheet was 14.1 million euros? Furthermore, the availability of the cheapest sector of the Franchi will no longer be available, while the so-called VIP seats will all remain usable.
For the president, therefore, all this “brings significant damage to Fiorentina both financially and managerially” and the only certain fact “is the significant reduction in revenues and the equally increased costs that the club will have to suffer as a consequence of the decisions taken independently by the Municipality of Florence”, decisions which could lead Fiorentina to “reserve the right to protect its rights anywhere”. In essence, in this context of uncertainty, the club could ask for damages from the Municipality of Florence which is renovating a publicly owned facility and on which the owner violated, on 15 January 2021, declared in an official note – resulting from the Mibact report that binds the entire Franchi stadium –: “Now I imagine that the Italian bureaucracy together with all the entities that have strongly activated themselves to highlight to the Mibact the need to save the Franchi such as Archistar, Foundations and Committees, are equally quick to raise the necessary funds that the Municipality will need to renovate the stadium .
It will absolutely be necessary to prevent the Franchi from becoming an abandoned and dilapidated structure in the heart of beautiful Florence.” To intervene on the Franchi for the president, as soon as he arrived in Florence it would have been enough to throw down the curves, then it was no longer enough and he moved on to “I want to destroy everything and do it again”. Who knows where Fiorentina would have played if it had been possible to raze Nervi’s work to the ground?
