The Delle Alpi Question- Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Whilst currently lying empty the Stadio Delle Alpi has always been associated with the successful Scudetto winning Juventus sides of the 90’s. Not always the most popular stadium with the fans, it still deserves a mention in a Serie A stadium guide for becoming such a well-known ground (maybe not always for the right reasons) in such a short space of time.

Having been built at great expense as part of the developments for Italy’s hosting of the 1990 World Cup, the Delle Alpi was meant to be a stadium for the modern age, replacing the Stadio Olimpico of Turin, but poor design and planning has lead to the downfall of the stadium. This has lead to an uncertain future for the currently unused stadium, potentially making it one of the least used new stadiums in existence, facing the possibility of a wrecking ball turning it into a pile of rubble.

Construction on the stadium began in June 1988, and due to the use of prefabricated cement, was complete within two years. The delle Alpi was built by the council of Turin, with both of the city's football clubs using it as their home ground following the closure of the Stadio Olimpico. It was originally intended to be used for not only football, but also athletics, therefore a running track was constructed around the outside of the pitch. However, due to the lack of a warm up track, the stadium has never been used for a major athletics event.

The story of the Delle Alpi is a sad one, full of poor decisions and missed opportunities. Money was being poured into the infrastructure of the Italian game; this was to be the new flagship stadium of Italia 90 just behind that of the Stadio Olimpico and equal to the San Siro, but it just didn’t happen. Its architectural design makes it one of the more attractive stadiums in the world, which some people would go as far as saying is beautiful. However inside, the exposure to the elements and a combination of poor visibility caused by the inclusion of the disused running track and poorly placed advertising hoardings has seen the stadium come under heavy criticism from the fans. Along with its poor location on the outskirts of Turin, this has forced fans to stay away from the Delle Alpi. It has often been described as a stadium with a soulless atmosphere and the apparent boycott of fans has meant that the stadium has rarely been a complete sell out.

Rising rental costs of the stadium for Juventus and Torino compared to other clubs in Serie A saw Juventus, now with a new senior management team, starting talking about developing a new stadium for themselves. This was originally meant as a warning to the City of Turin but when negotiations broke down regarding the tenancy agreement Juventus moved their 1995 UEFA Cup Semi Final match to the San Siro and drew a crowd of 85,000. It is not the only time that Juventus have played elsewhere and drawn crowds, and this highlights a) the popularity of the team across Italy and b) the negative factors of the Delle Alpi.

The question of redevelopment has cropped up many times, even more so in recent years following Juventus’ outright purchase of the stadium in 2003. With the stadium often being half full on match days, plans were proposed to redevelop or rather build a new stadium within the old one and thus remove the running track and allow for a more tightly packed and atmospheric stadium that would have more of a traditional English stadium feel to it. Unfortunately these plans were put on hold following relegation to Serie B and a change in the board of directors.

The new board of directors has looked to enhance the original plans, building a 40,000 all-seater stadium that would be part of a much larger development in the surrounding area to include; conference facilities, a museum, shopping centre and a club megastore. The commercial naming rights to the new stadium may well also be sold.

It is thought though that these plans were dependant on Italy winning the rights to host the Euro 2012 finals, and the the financial support for the 120m Euro project, from the Italian FA and Government, as well as ticket revenues that this would bring.

With Juventus purchasing the Delle Alpi for 25m euros, Torino purchased the Stadio Olimpico di Torino and following its redevelopment moved out of the Delle Alpi at the end of 2005/2006 season. As the Euro 2012 finals were awarded to Poland and the Ukraine the future of the Delle Alpi is again unknown as the proposed developments seem unlikely and Juventus have temporarily moved into the Stadio Olimpico with Torino, leading to speculation that the stadium may well be redeveloped in some form or another or it may well be sold off and demolished with the money securing a longer term tenancy agreement with Torino FC and perhaps eventually a new stadium development somewhere that is easier for fans to attend. The Stadio Delle Alpi may never be remembered for its atmosphere but it might well be remembered for the trophies won there, great games and the great players of that era that have graced its surface.

Puds