Real Madrid’s €1.2bn renovation project, which includes
restaurants that can serve thousands of people, a skywalk with views across
Madrid and a newly expanded museum that is expected to increase visitors from
1.5mn a year to 2mn. Museum revenue is projected to hit €50mn as a result,
similar to the amount some clubs in Spain’s top tier earn from their broadcast
rights.
In Barcelona, the club’s redevelopment project, which has
been almost a decade in the making, is finally under way. Once finished, the
total capacity at Camp Nou will only rise slightly to 105,000, but an extra
ring of VIP seats will be added, as will a roof, a new third tier of general
admission seats, and a 360-degree screen.
More work will take place outside the stadium, where a new
building will house the museum and club shop, alongside a revamped Palau Blaugrana,
a space that will hold 15,000 people for concerts and other sport, such as
basketball. Spanish clubs will also need to invest heavily in
preparation for the 2030 World Cup.
La Liga’s investment
deal with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners included carve-outs from the
league’s spending rules to encourage clubs to put money into stadium
infrastructure instead of blowing it all on players. La Liga expects the deal
to help unlock as much as €1.8bn in investment. Milos Nenadovic, club infrastructure
consultant at La Liga, says the goal is to give fans a reason to arrive before
the game and increase the amount of money they spend once there.
Barcelona was able to borrow the €1.5bn it needs for its
project from the bond market in April, even as the club grappled with
overstretched finances and high levels of debt.
Real Madrid tapped US investors through private placement,
securing long-term financing when interest rates were still close to zero. Then
last year it agreed a deal with US investment fund Sixth Street, which paid
€360mn in return for the rights to host music and other live events inside the
Bernabéu through Legends, the firm’s events business.
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