Options
Real Madrid & Barcelona unveil stadium expansion plans
Last week Real Madrid revealed a model of their proposed new-look Santiago Bernabeu which is to radically change the exterior of the stadium as well as including a retractable roof. There's talk that the capacity could also rise to around 91,000. See a visualisation HERE. The project is expected to cost around €400m (£330m).
Read more HERE.
Barcelona also unveiled their plans to develop the Camp Nou. See what it will look like HERE. They'll also be building a retractable roof. The capacity will rise to 105,053 and the whole project is expected to cost around €600m but €150m of that will be paid for by selling naming rights. Work should begin in 2017.
Read more HERE.
Just thinking of what some members have said in the past about the gap in La Liga. This is probably a great illustration of that. Both clubs have said they want to have "the best stadium in the world" so there's obviously a bit of competition going on. I have to say both look great but I'm a little confused about why Barcelona are increasing their capacity. They only currently sell out for El Clasico matches and average around 72,000 for league games.
Read more HERE.
Barcelona also unveiled their plans to develop the Camp Nou. See what it will look like HERE. They'll also be building a retractable roof. The capacity will rise to 105,053 and the whole project is expected to cost around €600m but €150m of that will be paid for by selling naming rights. Work should begin in 2017.
Read more HERE.
Just thinking of what some members have said in the past about the gap in La Liga. This is probably a great illustration of that. Both clubs have said they want to have "the best stadium in the world" so there's obviously a bit of competition going on. I have to say both look great but I'm a little confused about why Barcelona are increasing their capacity. They only currently sell out for El Clasico matches and average around 72,000 for league games.
0
Comments
Joking aside, maximising your match-day revenues is going to become ever more important under FFP rules so this sort of redevelopment is going to become common. Liverpool will be announcing their plans for Anfield before the end of the season. City will need to expand the Etihad while Spurs & Chelsea need to do something, most likely move. I would be interested how the Spanish clubs are financing their developments.
Free money from their government?
A more realistic plan for Barca to compete with too
I do think this is something clubs with big grounds will look at in the future
I don't think the Spanish govt. has any money!
Maybe those nice Germans would be willing to give them some more Euros'.
The cost thing is puzzling me a bit, hundreds of millions spent just increasing the capacity by 10-15k, i've never been to the Nou Camp but looking at it on TV it does look in need of renovation.
Would it be cheaper to demolish the currant stadiums & rebuild them?
I visited the Nou Camp in 2007 and thought the interior was mind blowing, very luxurious I felt, the exterior not so much
Real Madrid seem to be going about it in a better way. They're including a shopping centre and a hotel inside the stadium which will apparently have direct views of the pitch, as well as an underground car park. Whereas Barcelona seem to be simply spending hundreds of millions to increase capacity and modernise the interior of the stadium a bit by installing new lifts and escalators.
Will they find the extra fans to fill those seats? The present ground is certainly well filled on match days (34,720 average for Premier league matches last season).
.
The main problem with the Camp Nou is it's falling to bits. Compare the seating areas to somewhere like Old Trafford and there is a huge difference.
I guess both stadium upgrades will involve putting in lots more corporate facilities, so although the overall capacities will only increase slightly, the matchday income will dramatically rise.
It would be great to see some more UK stadiums increasing their capacities - Old Trafford would be a monster if MUFC extended the 4th side: http://i21.tinypic.com/vealgz.jpg
The adjacent railway line and houses beyond it are a major problem though and would make it an extremely expensive project hard to justify by the anticipated additional income. Having trains rumbling under the stand might not be attractive to many people (though they could possibly re-route the railway line by demolishing the houses on railway road). And if it's a matter of new stand or new World Class midfielder, I know what would win that battle so I think it just won't happen.