What's next for Inter after Milan scraps plans for a new stadium?
With Milan seemingly pulling out of plans to build their own stadium, Inter will have to decide whether they still want to stick around at the San Siro.
Why can't stadium projects ever go according to plan? AC Milan was supposed to move out and build their own stadium in the Portello region by the 2018-19 season. While this was going on Inter was going to renovate the San Siro (probably decreasing its capacity as well) and look towards buying it out. This way both clubs would have their own stadiums and they wouldn't have to pay rent to the Milan city council (currently their deal is a lease to use the stadium until 2030 at a combined rent of €9m per year).
Unfortunately it seems that Milan has seen its relationship with Fondazione Fiera, the company that owns the land the club wants to build on, deteriorate to the point that negotiations have essentially come to a halt. This in turn lead to an announcement by Milan's president Silvio Berlusconi stating that he believes Milan will stay at the San Siro instead of pushing ahead with their new stadium project.
This news leaves Thohir in an awkward position. Milan's staying at the San Siro should free Inter from any obligations to foot the bill for future renovations to the San Siro (besides the already agreed upon updates for the 2016 Champions League final which will be paid for by both teams). But now, it is unclear as to what the future holds for the long-serving stadium.
One possible option would be for the two clubs to basically switch proposals. Inter would leave the San Siro and build a new stadium elsewhere while Milan stayed and did whatever renovations they saw fit. This idea had previously been discussed when Thohir first joined the club and the Rho district had been proposed, but Milan moved faster and the idea was shelved. Now it might come back into play.