Serie A side Udinese "is set to proceed with its stadium redevelopment plan after signing a financing deal with the Istituto per il Credito Sportivo (ICS) -- news that owner Gianpaolo Pozzo described as being equivalent to the club winning the Serie A title," according to SOCCEREX.
According to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, the partnership will see ICS, which "specialises in providing grant funding to sport and culture projects," provide €20M ($27M) of the €40M ($53M) "cost of the redevelopment." Serie A clubs "have found themselves held back by deteriorating stadia and Udinese’s project is set to be the first major stadium development since Juventus opened its new home" in Sept. '11.
Udinese "has called the Stadio Friuli its home since the facility opened in 1976." The stadium has a capacity of 41,000, but "is currently limited to a capacity of about 30,500 for football games." The project "will scale the stadium back in size to just over 25,000 seats, but aims to enhance the experience for fans and encourage them to attend games rather than watch matches" on TV. The project "has set a completion date" of the '14-15 season (SOCCEREX, 8/2).
