Staff Reporter
REAL Madrid have unveiled the new, revamped Santiago Bernabeu stadium, which set them back just the cool one billion euros.
It puts the Spanish giants at the forefront of the stadia queue in Europe. Although at 85,000 seats it is still not the largest, it will be by far the most modern and profitable.
Redevelopment lasted a lengthy three years, during which time Real Madrid were exiled to play home matches at their training ground, Ciudad Real Madrid, with a reduced capacity of 60,000 outside Madrid in Valdebebas near Barajas airport.
The project was originally scheduled for completion by the end of 2022, but was derailed by the two-hit combo of the Covid-19 pandemic and then Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Although the club played their first match there this weekend against city rivals Getafe, but the new-look Bernabeu is not expected to be officially unveiled until December 23, 2023.
Madrid bigwigs hope the stadium will pay for itself and more. It now features a wrap-around facade consists of strips of steel and stripes which can be lit up and upon which images can be projected.
A new retractable roof and pitch allows the stadium to be used for large-scale events, including concerts, business conferences, e-sports tournaments, and even basketball and tennis matches.
A shopping centre is attached to the stadium, with a Real Madrid museum, multinational shops, and various Michelin star restaurants, all maximising commercial potential.
All these additions are expected to increase Real Madrid’s revenue streams and enable it to better compete with the financial muscle of the Premier League, which has finally started to overpower the Spanish titans in the transfer market after years of being in their shadow.
Once works are officially completed, Madrid hope to bring in a healthy €300 million in ‘members and stadium’ revenue, which would be almost double what they earned in 2018-19, the last time the Bernabeu was fully operational.
Real Madrid’s new English superstar Jude Bellingham spoke of the roar of the crowd when he scored a 95th minute winner on the weekend as the ‘loudest I have ever heard in a football stadium.’
And Bellingham had previously played for Borussia Dortmund at the the Signal Iduna Park stadium, famous for it’s ‘yellow wall’ of noise.
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