Venezia FC are leaving Sant’Elena. The club signed a 40-year concession on Monday with the city of Venice to manage a new 18,500-seat stadium at the Bosco dello Sport complex in Tessera, on the mainland near Mestre.
Under the deal, the club will put €125m into finishing the facility, running and maintaining it, and covering the concession fees across the lease. The ground is due to open in the second half of the 2027-28 season and will also stage concerts, festivals and non-football events as part of a wider sports and leisure complex.
Stadio Pierluigi Penzo, the club’s current home, sits on the island of Sant’Elena in Venice’s lagoon and is reachable only by boat or on foot. It is one of Italy’s oldest football grounds still in regular use, with a capacity of just over 12,000.
New owners, old ground
The deal lands in an awkward season on the pitch. Venezia were promoted to Serie A as Serie B champions last term, but sit bottom of the table with three points from eight matches, having won once and lost seven.
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The ownership was reshuffled in May, when an investment vehicle led by sports executives Tim Leiweke and Francesca Bodie, together with co-owner Drake, closed a €100m fund raise. Bodie now serves as club president.
Bodie called Monday’s signing a milestone for the club and the city.
“Today is a historic day for Venezia FC and our community. The Bosco dello Sport will be our new home. It will be an innovative, inclusive and sustainable stadium of the highest international standards,” she said in the club’s statement.
Decades of talk, now a signature
Venice mayor Simone Venturini, in office since May after succeeding Luigi Brugnaro, said the project had moved on from decades of debate into something concrete and credited his predecessor’s work on getting it off the ground.
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The first match at the Bosco dello Sport is scheduled for the second half of the 2027-28 season.
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