Serie A Side Fiorentina Unveils Plans For New 40,000-Seat Stadium

Serie A side Fiorentina "unveiled plans for a new stadium," which the club hopes will be "ready to move into" for the start of the '21-22 season, according to Ben Grounds of the London DAILY MAIL. The new stadium will seat 40,000 people, with the closest fans being only seven meters from the field of play. The €420M ($448.7M) project "will be built in a northwestern suburb of Florence" and also includes a shopping center, restaurants, a hotel and new transport links. The current stadium -- the Stadio Artemio Franchi -- was opened in '31 and hosted group games at two World Cups, in '34 and '90. Fiorentina Owner Andrea Della Valle said, "For us, it's a historic day. ... It's a big step for the city of Florence and all of Italy, but it'll need a bit of patience, maybe another four years or so. It was necessary to solve some small issues. I'd like to call this the Purple Renaissance" (DAILY MAIL, 3/10).