New Bernabéu Stadium Costs 893 Million Euros

SANTIAGO BERNABEU stadium is Real Madrid’s iconic football stadium in Madrid, and the club has carried out significant renovation works, totalling up to 893 million euros, with 355 million spent between 2022 and 2023.

The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium has been the home of Real Madrid since 1947 when the stadium was built. It has a current seating capacity of 83,168, the second-largest seating capacity in the country.

The Origins of Santiago Bernabéu

The stadium is named after the legendary Real Madrid player and president, Santiago Bernabéu (1895–1978), and is renowned as one of the most famous football venues in the world, the final of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League was hosted on this turf on four occasions: in 1957, 1969, 1980, and 2010.

The renovations will be undertaken by GMP Arquitectos and L35 Ribas to turn the Bernabéu into an avant-garde venue with a wraparound design with digitized screens that will turn the stadium into a large-scale projector. The aim is to boost the club’s income and increase the number of visitors. The stadium is visited by 1.3 million people annually, 55 per cent of whom are tourists from all over the world.

Costly renovations

The club acquired a 900 million loan last year for the renovation project. The first repayment of the loan will be made during the 2023-24 financial year.

Real Madrid made this significant investment in the hopes that by January 2024, it will begin to generate more income as stadiums begin to fill to their pre-pandemic capacities. The stadium is expected to be fully operational between 2024 and 2025.

Real Madrid closes the 2022 – 2023 financial year with a net income of 12 million euros and revenue of 843 million, not including player signings. This is a 17 per cent increase from the previous season, with earnings of more than 121 million compared to the 2021 – 2022 financial year.

This is positive news after the pandemic took a heavy toll and Real Madrid lost close to 400 million in revenue. With a new look, the future of the Madrid football club looks bright, and the stadium will become an iconic piece of Madrid’s architecture.