Let's not beat around the bush. Italian soccer is not what it once was. Star players have deserted the Serie A in droves in recent years, while even its premier clubs can no longer quite compete in the top continental competition, the UEFA Champions League.

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There are explanations aplenty. Italy's economy is in trouble, depleting the spending power of rich club owners and the average fan. Teams typically don't own their own stadiums and the towns that do often let them fall into disrepair, hurting attendance and match-day earnings. The playing level has fallen off – as such, the TV product isn't valued as highly as that of other leagues, limiting broadcast revenues. A small, violent and bigoted subset of the fans continues to bring disrepute. And all of that has thrown the league into something of a downward spiral.

Yet a few clubs have figured out how to reverse that trend. Juventus built and opened its own stadium in 2011 and has dominated Italy ever since. Udinese is renovating its stadium and AS Roma, now under American ownership, has advanced plans to build their own facility as well.

Inter Milan has made noises about a stadium, so it seemed natural that AC Milan, the cross-town rivals whom the Nerazzurri have shared the San Siro with for more than 60 years, should do the same.

On Wednesday, the Rossoneri, perhaps Italy's most fabled club, announced plans for their new hyper-modern facility, which they hope to open before the 2018-19 season. Like Juve's stadium, the venue would be far smaller than its predecessor – 48,000 seats, rather than 80,000 – creating a more intimate, luxurious and safe environment. AC Milan seems to understand that it's more valuable to have fewer fans paying a premium on scarce tickets than to have a behemoth of a stadium that only sells out a few times a year.

It seems, then, that Italy's clubs are waking up and grasping that they are in an arms race with the rest of Europe, and that revenue streams are everything.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.