• MSG Arena will host up to 16,000 people
• Construction planned from autumn 2022 to autumn 2025
• Total investment of €180 million
• Venue for the 2026 Winter Olympics
• CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg: "This is where our expertise in the management of top venues and live entertainment comes into its own"
Munich, 3 August 2021. CTS EVENTIM, one of the leading international ticketing and live entertainment providers, is massively expanding its portfolio of top international venues with the planning and construction of the MSG Arena in Milan. Italy's largest and most modern multipurpose arena will be able to host up to 16,000 people after its planned completion in autumn 2025, and will also have an outdoor area of more than 10,000m² for open-air events. Construction is scheduled to begin in autumn 2022. The arena will initially be made available to the International Olympic Committee for the Winter Games at the beginning of 2026. After that, CTS EVENTIM will continue operating the venue. Agreements to this effect were signed today between CTS EVENTIM AG & Co. KGaA and the project company Milano Santa Giulia S.p.A..
The investment over the duration of the project will amount to around €180 million. An EVENTIM Group project company based in Milan will acquire a 50,000m² plot of land in the south-east of Italy's northern powerhouse, where it will plan, build and operate the new arena, including the outdoor facilities and two multi-storey car parks for 2,750 vehicles. The arena will secure a leading position in the Italian market in every respect and will further increase the importance of the Milan region for national and international entertainment and sporting events.
Through the operation of internationally renowned venues such as the LANXESS Arena in Cologne, the EVENTIM Apollo in London or the K.B. Hallen in Copenhagen, CTS EVENTIM has extensive and long-standing experience in the management of multipurpose arenas for up to 20,000 spectators. Its portfolio also includes the Tempodrom and the Waldbuehne in Berlin.
Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, CEO of CTS EVENTIM, said: "Our work as venue operators is one of the outstanding success stories of CTS EVENTIM. We are very much looking
forward to this new project, which will enable us to bring our expertise in the management of top international venues and the live entertainment business to bear. Our new arena in Milan will be a must-play for all major tours, and we will also be able to offer top events from the Eventim portfolio to the region around Milan and beyond in our own arena through the four Italian promoters in our EVENTIM LIVE promoter network. This is another excellent addition to our value chain."
The MSG Arena is part of the Milano Santa Giulia urban development project, which includes offices, housing and retail units across 120 hectares, just a few kilometres from Milan's city centre. The multipurpose arena in the middle of Lombardy, Italy's leading economic region, will have excellent links to the surrounding area via motorways and public transport.
In terms of revenue, Italy is CTS EVENTIM's second largest market after Germany. Before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the region generated around €271 million in the ticketing and live entertainment segments in 2019.
About CTS EVENTIM
CTS EVENTIM is one of the leading international providers of ticketing services and live entertainment. Before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, around 250 million tickets per annum were marketed using the Company’s systems, including physical box offices, online portals and mobile terminals. Its online portals operate under brands such as eventim.de, oeticket.com, ticketcorner.ch, ticketone.it and entradas.com. The EVENTIM Group also includes many concert, tour and festival promoters for events like Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Hurricane, Southside and Lucca Summer. In addition, CTS EVENTIM operates some of Europe’s most renowned venues, for example the LANXESS Arena in Cologne, the K.B. Hallen in Copenhagen, the Waldbühne in Berlin and the EVENTIM Apollo in London. CTS Eventim AG & Co. KGaA (ISIN DE 0005470306) has been listed on the stock exchange since 2000 and is currently a member of the MDAX segment. Against a backdrop of forced closures, cancellations and restrictions on events as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Group generated revenue totalling €256.8 million in 21 countries in 2020 compared with more than €1.4 billion in the year before.