The debate over the Giovanni Celeste Stadium is no longer simply about when ACR Messina will finally be allowed to play there.
The bigger question is much more basic: What exactly is the City of Messina’s plan for the stadium?
For months, supporters have heard announcements, reassurances and promises.
Back in March, Mayor Federico Basile clearly identified the Celeste as the future home of Messina, while describing a much more ambitious redevelopment plan for the Franco Scoglio Stadium.
Now it is October.
And instead of having a clear path forward, we seem to be asking many of the same questions.
ACR Messina has now done its part.
The club has formally asked the City for permission to move into the Giovanni Celeste.
This is no longer a rumor. It is no longer a public statement about what the club would like to do someday.
According to reports published October 1, the request has officially been submitted to City Hall.
At almost exactly the same time, however, we learned that the Municipal Supervisory Commission, following additional recommendations from local public-safety authorities, has identified further requirements and that more work will be needed before the stadium can be fully used. W
hich brings us back to the same question: What is the plan?
The Giovanni Celeste has undergone a significant renovation project funded through Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
It has been presented as a modern, multipurpose sports facility being returned to the community.
That is certainly good news. But renovating a stadium is only half the job.
A renovated stadium without a clear management plan can quickly become a new building with the same old problems.
Messina Is Not Asking for a Field for 90 Minutes.
It Is Asking for a Home.
That distinction matters.
Messina does not simply need to know where it will play next Sunday.
A professional soccer organization needs to plan months and years ahead. It needs to know where its first team will play.
It needs to know where its youth teams can operate.
It needs space for its women’s program.
It needs to understand what facilities it can use, what services it will be responsible for, what expenses it will have to cover and what rights it will have over the stadium.
Most importantly, ownership needs to know whether the stadium is part of the club’s long-term business and sporting plan — or simply another temporary solution. You cannot build a serious soccer organization one Sunday at a time.
And this is hardly a new problem.
By June, the stadium issue was already one of the unresolved administrative questions surrounding the club.
In July, following the controversy over an international friendly that was eventually canceled, the City and the club publicly presented different accounts regarding stadium requests and availability.
Now we are in October. And we are still talking about the same issue.
Who Actually Runs the Giovanni Celeste?
This may be the most important question of all. Who is going to manage the stadium every day?
Who pays for routine maintenance?
Who pays for staffing, cleaning, utilities, security and basic services?
Who pays when something breaks?
Who coordinates the schedule when multiple clubs want to use the facility?
And who is responsible for making sure that a stadium renovated with substantial public investment still looks like a renovated stadium five or ten years from now?
Opening a stadium is relatively easy.
Maintaining one is expensive.
Maintaining one that is being used heavily by several teams is even more expensive.
The more teams that use the Celeste, the more wear and tear there will be.
More games mean more work on the field, more cleaning, more utilities, more staffing and eventually more repairs.
This is not an argument against the other sports organizations in Messina.
They have every right to expect adequate facilities as well.
This is an argument for planning.
If the Giovanni Celeste is going to be the stadium for everyone, then the City needs to explain how the stadium for everyone is going to work.
And who is going to pay for it.
Promises Are Not a Management Plan For years, we have heard about cooperation with Messina, maximizing the value of the city’s sports facilities and creating stronger partnerships between the club and local government.
In 2024, when the agreement involving the Franco Scoglio was signed, the City itself spoke about working with ACR Messina and turning the stadium into an asset for the entire community.
Last March, the mayor described the Giovanni Celeste as Messina’s future home.
Now Messina has formally asked for that home.
So this is the moment when promises have to become policy.
What kind of lease or operating agreement is the City proposing?
How long will it last?
What will ACR Messina be responsible for?
What will remain the City’s responsibility?
Who pays for maintenance?
Who pays for improvements?
What spaces will be guaranteed to the first team?
What about the Under-19 team?
What about the women’s team?
Can the club generate revenue from the facility?
Can it use the stadium commercially?
Can it develop hospitality, sponsorship and game-day activities?
Can it invest in the facility knowing that it will still be there several years from now?
These are not minor details.
They are fundamental questions for any ownership group trying to build a sustainable sports organization.
And What Happens to the Franco Scoglio?
There is another question that cannot simply disappear while everyone talks about the Celeste.
What is the long-term plan for the Franco Scoglio Stadium? If the Celeste is supposed to become Messina’s home while the Franco Scoglio undergoes a larger redevelopment, then the City needs to explain exactly what that means.
What work is planned?
How will it be funded?
When will it begin?
How long will it take?
And what is the ultimate vision for the stadium?
At this point, renderings and announcements are not enough.
There needs to be a timeline.
There needs to be financing.
There needs to be a construction schedule.
And there needs to be accountability.
The Problem Is Not the Celeste.
The Problem Is the Lack of a Clear Direction.
Nobody is asking the City to simply hand the Giovanni Celeste over to ACR Messina.
Nobody is arguing that the other teams in the city should be thrown out.
What is being requested is far more reasonable.
A decision.
A clear, understandable policy.
If the Giovanni Celeste is going to be the home of ACR Messina, then negotiate a serious long-term agreement.
Spell out the rights.
Spell out the responsibilities.
Spell out the costs.
Spell out who handles maintenance.
And establish clear rules governing the use of the stadium by other organizations. I
f, instead, the Celeste is going to remain primarily a municipal facility shared simultaneously by multiple clubs, then say so.
Explain who will operate it. Explain how access will be allocated.
Explain who gets priority when schedules conflict.
And, most importantly, explain who will pay the additional costs created by intensive use.
Either model can work.
What cannot work indefinitely is having no clearly defined model at all.
Messina cannot continue managing its soccer infrastructure through a series of temporary arrangements and last-minute solutions.
ACR Messina has new ownership.
It has built a team.
It has a first-team operation, a youth program and a women’s program.
The club is trying to build something beyond the next game.
Now it is asking for a home.
And the City needs to tell the club — and the people of Messina — where that home is going to be.
Not with another press conference.
Not with another promise.
Not with another rendering.
With a plan, a contract, a budget and a timeline.
Because after years of debate over Messina’s stadiums, this is no longer simply a story about the Giovanni Celeste.
It is a story about whether the City of Messina actually has a long-term policy for its sports infrastructure and for the future of soccer in the city.
And that leads to the most uncomfortable question of all: Does that policy already exist, or is it still waiting to be written?
The Giovanni Celeste has been renovated. ACR Messina has formally asked to move in.
The ball is now in the City’s court.
It is time for City Hall to tell everyone, once and for all, what it intends to do with the Giovanni Celeste.
