Another miscalculation delays the opening of the Bernabéu

BarcelonaIt's very likely that most viewers who watch Real Madrid matches on television think that the renovations to the Santiago Bernabéu are already complete. The reality is that, six years after the renovation began, There are still workers working in the bowels of the Madrid stadium.. What the cameras don't show are the tarps covering the pending work that many attendees must cross to access their seats, in addition to the temporary fences and signs that exist on the streets that border them. Florentino Pérez, the club's plenipotentiary president, had set the summer of 2025 as the date for the inauguration of the new Bernabéu, but a new calculation error will prevent it.

The reason? New works are already planned for the summer: the renovation of a planned renovation. The NFL, the American football league, agreed with Real Madrid to host a regular season match of the 2025 season around October. What no one anticipated was that the stadium's locker rooms were not large enough to accommodate the army of players involved in each match: 45. And we must also add physical trainers, assistant coaches, and other members of thestaff. Although it's not a multi-million-dollar project, it's quite complex—it's being done in the basement—so the workers will dedicate the entire summer to it.

That's not the only thing that needs to change. With the selection of Spain, Morocco, and Portugal confirmed as the main venues for the 2030 World Cup, Florentino Perez is determined to have the Bernabéu host the grand final. The problem is that Real Madrid's stadium has a capacity of 80,000. This is the minimum requirement demanded by FIFA, although it falls far short of the 115,000 that the Hassan II stadium in Morocco will have, or the 105,000 at the new Camp Nou once the work is completed. Therefore, the Real Madrid president wants to retouch the first tier and add a few additional rows to increase the capacity to at least 85,000, according to the progress. Relief. It would be useful for the World Cup, but also to make more money during the season.

The business of the new Santiago Bernabéu, in question

It all stems from the need to do business beyond club football. It's a long-standing problem. When the Bernabéu became obsolete, Florentino had to debate between remodeling the stadium in the Chamartín neighborhood or building a new one in the Valdebebas sports complex. The move was very attractive because the club had land and all the space in the world to build a large shopping center to bolster the club's bottom line. However, advised by José Ángel Sánchez, JAS, his right-hand man, he opted to stay where he was and remodel the club's historic stadium from top to bottom.

A priori, the Bernabéu's business options were limited to the new boxes VIP, in the museum and the money obtained from the few shops and restaurants that could be set up. Since this wasn't enough to justify the major renovation, Florentino's Plan B was holding major events inside the stadium on non-match days. Initially, a retractable roof was planned for rainy days, and later the hypogeum was installed to extend the turf and gain a massive space for concerts.

It was supposed to be El Dorado. But after just a few months, it became clear that the invention was failing. The retractable turf had extremely high maintenance costs and presented problems with the upkeep of the playing field. And the concerts had to be postponed due to complaints from neighbors, who were horrified to see how the noise far exceeded the limits allowed by municipal regulations. This was a major thorn in the side because Madrid needed that income to repay the loan of more than 1 billion euros it had requested. The club looked for a way to acoustically isolate the stadium, although the architects already said it was impossible. Indeed, all concerts have been postponed. sine die.

In parallel, Florentino also clashed with the neighborhood opposition for the macro parking project on Paseo de la Castellana, which was finally halted by court order. The latest stumbling block was the Skybar, a luxury restaurant on the top floor of the Bernabéu stadium that was supposed to host banquets and large celebrations. It was supposed to be up and running, but the company that had won the concession went bankrupt. The president ceded the license to another businessman, although there's no opening date yet. In fact, people in the capital explain that the work isn't finished and that every time it rains, there are leaks.

In an attempt to defend yourself from criticism, Florentino He used the last meeting to downplay these problems and say that the amount of business lost from concerts, parking, and bars was minimal. These statements conflict with his own previous projections and contradict the urgency of selling the operation of the boxes. VIP to a third company—a similar operation to the one Barça subsequently carried out—to avoid losses in the 2023-24 season balance sheet. A warning to all: making money from a stadium is much more difficult than studies suggest before construction begins.