Juventus Suffer Defeat in New Stadium Venture
Published: November 10, 1999
Italian giants Juventus are now on collision course with their city council after moves to rebuild their massive Alpi ground were rejected.
Juventus have responded with a threat to quit the Stadio Delle Alpi they share with Torino - the scene of last Sunday's 0-0 draw in the first Turin derby for four years.
The club are backed by the powerful Agnelli family - owners of Fiat and Ferrari - and these political links were supposed to ensure a smooth progress for the club's plans to demolish the Alpi ground they have used since 1990. Juve's ideal plan was to see them rebuild a new a 32,000 seat stadium on its old site
and demolish the Alpi in the summer of 2001.
Juve are now looking to revive old plans to go back to the Stadio Communale which they left at the end of the 1980s. Fellow Serie A side Torino have been granted permission to rebuild their old Filadelfia ground but have no funds to start work.
Juve's power in Italian football and funding look almost limitless but a city coalition led by right wingers and communists defeated their plans for the Delle Alpi at a council vote on Monday night.
The club play regularly outside their Turin base if they can get permission to move cup matches and European dates. They decided three years ago with Torino to try and end the life of the Delle Alpi whose cavernous surroundings are hated by the club's fans.
The club have a national support and could build a small purpose-built football stadium in any region of Italy but are loathe to leave their Turin roots. Their plans for a new ground are modest as the Turin giants believe money revenue will increasingly come from pay-per-view television deals rather than gate receipts and know their massive fan base could guarantee a cash bonanza in the next few years.
The club's southern Italian fan base find the Alpi inaccessible but would be keen to subscribers to matches involving their favourites. A survey commissioned for the 1990 World Cup found that 1 in 7 of the Italian population supported Juve.
