Santiago Bernabéu pristine pitch initiative

Article posted by Coliseum, December 15^th, 2021

Image: Real Madrid

The Spanish LaLiga football club Real Madrid have taken out an additional loan of €225million for a new phase of remodeling work at its residence – the Santiago Bernabéu – that will see an underground greenhouse installed.

The ‘as’ stated that ‘Los Blancos’ initially confirmed plans for the €525m renovation four years ago, with the work set to increase capacity by 4,000 to roughly 85,000 and include the incorporation of a retractable roof and pitch.

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid (Spain). Founded on March 6^th, 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally worn a white home kit since inception.

The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-largest stadium in Spain and third-largest home to a top-flight European club after the 99,354-capacity Camp Nou in Barcelona (Spain) and the 81,365-capacity Westfalenstadion in Dortmund, Germany.

The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is undergoing total transformation – complete spruce-up, a state-of-the-art look has been lent by adding a futuristic façade, retractable roof and premium facilities.

Construction work began in 2020 during the hiatus ushered in amid the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, with Madrid subsequently playing their home matches at the 6,000-capacity Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano – the club’s training base – when the 2020-2021 seasons resumed.

Madrid eventually returned to the Santiago Bernabéu in September this year but much of the remodeling is yet to be completed, with the club now confirming an extra phase has been added.

The subterranean greenhouse will ensure their playing surface remains pristine even when it is retracted. Providing details of the loan and its use, a club statement read, “Real Madrid signed the extension of the financing of the works not initially included in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium remodeling project through a new loan for a total amount of €225million, with a term of 27 years and a fixed interest rate of 1.53 per cent. These conditions are the best ever obtained for long-term financing in the sport industry. The loan also includes a grace period for the repayment of the principal, so that Real Madrid will not start repaying the loan until July 30^th, 2024.”

The statement further read, “The funding will be used for the construction of a large underground greenhouse which was not foreseen in the initial work due to its complexity and which was technologically resolved at a later date. This greenhouse will allow the automatic removal of the pitch and its preservation in optimal conditions and in perfect shape to be used when a football match is to be held. In this way, the number of events that can be held without impacting the grass will be maximized.”

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