From the presentation of project of the new Iacovone, last Tuesday at the Navy Officers’ Club, there were many words and discussions spent, with notes not without discontent on the capacity, above all. But the intervention on the old “Salinella” is only the fulcrum of a wider redevelopment involving the district, which will be revitalized by the Mediterranean Games. To address the stadium topic, but not only that, we spoke frankly with the majority municipal councilor Luke ContraryTaranto fan forever.
Luca, you were there at the presentation of the new Iacovone project, what do you think?
Very happy with the project, even if I too would have preferred a capacity of 18,000 spectators rather than the 16,500 declared by Dr. Ferrara of Esperia.
A heated debate has arisen among the fans, there are those who see the capacity adequate but there are also those who say that a stadium with 30,000 seats is needed.
I imagine that the planners, in calculating the economy of the investment, evaluated many parameters, such as the average number of spectators over the last 30 years and not only during cartel matches, the minimum guaranteed cost-effectiveness threshold, which is usually around 80% of capacity.
We have noticed that you go into your social media posts a lot to motivate your interventions, like the last one, right on the stadium. From Taranto – Catania to today, football has changed completely.
Mind you, I too am a supporter of romantic football, steps with friends, beer and villages. But we have to understand that football has changed profoundly: either we understand that we can only grow if we enter the perspective of, alas, modern football, or we can be satisfied and continue to follow popular football.
Here, grow up. It means that for a state-of-the-art, futuristic stadium, it will take a company that keeps pace with this transformation.
A train is passing through Taranto that will never pass again, let’s realize this. Many investors are approaching the city and directly or indirectly will want to understand, if not actually intervene, on the future of football in Taranto. To continue playing football, we will have to adapt to the high levels to which the Games will take us.
No one said it directly but field B “De Molfetta” will disappear. How will the loss of a new football field in a football starved neighborhood be compensated for?
Yes, pitch B won’t be there but that doesn’t mean there will be one less football pitch. The planning external to the Games foresees the revaluation of other areas of the Salinella where to create another sports facility, without forgetting the new structures such as that of Talsano.
Once the topic of the Iacovone stadium is closed, another spearhead of the infrastructures will be the swimming stadium.
Of course. It will be an international project. Taranto will have an Olympic swimming pool, but not only. The Swimming Stadium will also lead to the revaluation of an area, the one behind Torre D’Ayala, which will be completely redeveloped, with an archaeological park finally enhanced and other structures that will make it live not only as a swimming facility.
The conversation with Luca Contrario was dense, full of ideas to be able to continue talking about the Mediterranean Games and the legacy in terms of sports facilities that he will have to leave to the city. But there will still be places and times to talk about it. The machine that will lead to Taranto 2026 is in motion and we believe that the progress of the works will make us aware of how the future of Taranto is being built.