Napoli Basket advances on the renovation of Palargento. President Matt Rizzetta did not hide himself in the press conference: “The project is standing, we are carrying it forward with conviction. We are sure that our product will be a jewel for the city, even superior to the one that will be built in East Naples. We are thinking of a sports hall for 10-12 thousand spectators for basketball games, then we will try to also bring non-basketball events by enlarging the spaces and the audience”.
The ground is the same where the stands of the glorious Fuorigrotta sports hall stand today: “Unfortunately that’s the space, we don’t have much else to create restaurants and leisure spaces.” On the progress: “The relationship with the mayor is very positive, we will meet him again tomorrow (Tuesday) trying to align ourselves on some details. Within 30 days we will have a much more precise and clear picture of the progress of the project and the times that await us. Investment by the club only? We are ready, but if there are other possibilities with public or private funds they are welcome. But I repeat that we are ready and so we can be even faster”.
Napoli, which is the second Serie A team in terms of increase in spectators compared to last year (+18 percent), is also looking at the market with the probable return of Totè on loan from Milan: “We have made resources available to strengthen the squad, coach Magro and GM Laughlin will decide the names – explains Rizzetta -. The adventure so far is happy, everyone is working hard to carry on the project with the objective of the playoffs which Naples have been missing for twenty years”.
On the future: “We are moving forward step by step, ours is an ambitious but also very sustainable project. In the long term we would like to build a club of European value within 4-5 years, I had a positive meeting this morning with the president of the Euroleague and we will also meet the leaders of NBA Europe: I represent Naples which has great numbers and is second to none. The only thing missing is a high-level sports hall which is our priority”.
Also in the conference were Rizzetta’s partner, Dan Doyle, and the entrepreneur Rosario Procino who will represent the Italian consortium in the United States: “I will work with and for the management for the internationalization of the brand, I left Naples to work in New York and this is also the way to give something back to my homeland. It was decisive to focus on the Naples brand”. For Doyle “we are building something special, we want to make Napoli Basketball an international brand”.
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