From Football Field to Money Machine: How Real Madrid’s New Bernabeu Generates Revenue

Bernabeu’s facelift

This is the new Santiago Bernabeu, the Stadium of Real Madrid, one of the biggest football clubs in the world. It just got a 1 billion dollar facelift. Wrapped in steel that can be lit up from underneath to show moving images, it features a 360-degree scoreboard and a retractable roof that, when closed, creates an insane atmosphere.

After scoring in the last minute to win the game, Jude Bellingham said it was the loudest stadium he ever played in. And he played in Dortmund before. But the coolest part might be the pitch removal system. The famous grass has been ripped up and placed on a system of six movable platforms.

The idea is that the pitch can now be moved underground after match days and preserved in a controlled environment, with built-in climate-controlled ventilation, an irrigation system, LED lighting, and ultraviolet treatment. So it’s basically a high-tech greenhouse inside the stadium. That’s incredible engineering.

But what’s even more impressive is how much money they are going to make with it. The built-in greenhouse is core to a new strategy that aims to bring the club five new revenue streams and more than 100 million euros additional income per year. Welcome to the incredible business of the new Santiago Bernabeu.

Bernabeu’s evolution

To understand the future of the Bernabeu, we can look to its past. Since the very beginning, the Santiago Bernabeu has been in a constant state of evolution. For its first few years, it held the title of the biggest stadium in the world, before the opening of the Maracana in Brazil. As football started to modernize, so did the Bernabeu. Lights and a partial roof were added in the late 50s, and the capacity also fluctuated as the club introduced seating for corporate clients and VIP fans.

The first major facelift came in the 90s. A new stand lifted the stadium’s height to 57 meters, making it one of the tallest in Europe. Four towers were built in the corners, inspired by the iconic San Siro in Milan. This constant evolution has allowed the Bernabeu to remain one of the most important and versatile stadiums in Europe. It has hosted a World Cup final, several European Cup finals, major boxing bouts, and even a concert from Frank Sinatra. This stadium has always been about more than football.

President Florentino Perez wants to take that idea a step further. He reportedly spoke to Disney executives about a Real Madrid theme park that would have seen the stadium surrounded by rollercoasters. Unfortunately, they ditched the roller coaster idea. But they still tried to make it one of a kind. The idea behind iconic structures is that you can see just one small part and instantly know what you are looking at. It’s why you know that this is the Eiffel Tower and this is one of the Pyramids.

To achieve this same effect, no two meters of the Bernabeu’s new facade look the same, creating a fluid design that is easily identifiable on the Madrid skyline. So even without roller coasters, the new Bernabeu is going to offer Disney-level entertainment and transform the business of Real Madrid.

The Business Numbers

Football clubs like Real Madrid traditionally make all of their money from three sources. Commercial deals cover the club’s main sponsors. For Madrid, this includes agreements with Adidas and Emirates. While this is where Real Madrid makes most of its money, it’s also an area of their finances that doesn’t have that much room for growth. There is only so much space on the shirt or stadium for logos, and most of these contracts lock the club into a certain annual income for several years.

Next up is the money that Real Madrid makes from TV broadcasts of its matches. While Madrid has seen this income grow by an average of 10 million each year, all signs suggest these TV deals will start stagnating.

Ticket sales are the oldest and generally most dependable form of income for football clubs. Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium is one of the biggest in European football and earns the club an impressive €145 million per year. Unfortunately, stadiums have a capacity limit. Once these seats are full, it’s difficult to make more money from the stadium. While Madrid did add another three thousand seats to the Bernabeu, it would take the club 100 years to pay off the renovation costs through increased ticket revenues.

So, if ticket sales are becoming less important, why did Madrid just spend 1 billion transforming their stadium?

Perez’s masterplan

The problem with the Santiago Bernabeu can be seen when you look at its schedule. The stadium is extremely busy for about 90 minutes every other week. For the rest of the time, it stands empty, save for a few tour groups and the odd corporate event. The stadium also has some of the best transport links in Madrid, and yet this is only really used for one afternoon every two weeks.

So, we have prime real estate in the middle of one of Europe’s biggest cities, and it sits empty for most of the week. How can Madrid maximize this investment? The answer is to expand the type of events that the stadium is able to host. This is where the pitch removal system comes into play. You remember, the one with the greenhouse. Without a pitch in the way and coverage from the elements, Real Madrid can host pretty much anything they want within the walls of the Bernabeu.

One day it’s a tech conference with Bill Gates; the next, they can construct a regulation basketball court and host LeBron James. For the local fans, how about Carlos Alcaraz facing down Novak Djokovic in the stadium of his childhood football team? Madrid also has the space to add a full-sized American football pitch. There are even reports that Madrid have agreed to host multiple NFL games in the Bernabeu starting in 2024.

The concert industry is another area that Madrid can exploit. The Bernabeu can now be easily transformed into a 65,000-capacity concert venue, making it the biggest concert space in Spain. Taylor Swift is set to be the first music act to christen the new Santiago Bernabeu. Tickets for this concert sold out in just three hours. It looks like people are really desperate to check out the new Bernabeu.

Florentino Perez’s dream is to host at least one major event each week, transforming the Bernabeu into a major cultural hub in Madrid. With a more diverse spread of events comes more money for Madrid. Madrid has estimated that their revenue from the Santiago Bernabeu will almost double to around €300 million by 2024. If that is the case, the stadium renovations will have paid for themselves within four years. That’s a bold claim, but is there any evidence to back it up?

Tottenham Hotspur and their own stadium rebuild is probably the most accurate comparison. Tottenham also spent 1 billion and added both a retractable roof and a removable pitch with the intention of becoming London’s entertainment hub. Since then, Tottenham’s stadium has become the home of the NFL in the U.K.—a deal that earns the club 12 million dollars per year and around 1 million dollars per game through concession sales.

Most of the major music acts, including Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, have played sell-out events, and Google was even reportedly in talks to buy the naming rights of the stadium. Tottenham’s most recent financials show that the new stadium currently earns the club about three times more than the old venue.

In that context, Real Madrid doubling their earnings doesn’t seem very far from reality. Real Madrid’s plan for the Santiago Bernabeu is simple. With a central location, great transport links, and facilities that are capable of hosting a wide range of events, the Santiago Bernabeu has everything to become the entertainment hub of Madrid.

The Consequences for football

This new evolution of the Bernabeu will essentially future-proof the club. With the price of success in football only increasing with each season, Madrid will welcome the extra cash. This money-making machine and Madrid’s historic brand should help the club maintain its position at the top of football. If this proves to be a success, other clubs will want to follow.

But that will be easier said than done. Transforming a stadium into an entertainment hub requires a large investment in money and time. Madrid have already spent more than a billion euros, across several years, on this facelift and did so with an extremely low-interest rate. No club would get the same rate in today’s economy.

Whatever happens next, Madrid have the head start. All of these obstacles might explain why one of the architects of the new Bernabeu was heard saying, “I don’t think anyone would dare to do this again.”