Along with pursuing a Serie A title and returning to prominence in the UEFA Champions League, Juventus comes to America for its preseason tour on the brink of entering a new era, writes George Vecsey.

In September, Juve will move into a new 41,000-seat stadium, the first one in Italy built from private funds. Andrea Agnelli, chairman of the Juventus board and a member of the family that has owned Juventus since 1923, says owning its own stadium takes Juventus and Italian soccer into the realm of other great European clubs.“It is a point of pride to be the first private owners of a fully modern facility to hold games and be open seven days a week for commercial purposes,” Agnelli said. “On the other hand, our competitors are international ones, and it is an element to fill an important gap as an important revenue source.”

Agnelli is also pursuing reinstatement of the two Serie titles stripped from Juve in the Calciopoli scandal. He claims officials from other teams were also guilty of influencing which referees worked their league matches.