Things are getting complicated for him Real Madrid and its president, who has spent a whopping 1.170 million euros to reform the Santiago Bernabeu stadium and turn it into one of the most modern and advanced in the world. A scandalous figure that was intended to be amortized with events that have nothing to do with football, such as concerts and festivals. The season was inaugurated by Taylor Swift on May 29 and was followed by Karol G. o Luis Miguelamong others. The list continued with the father (December 28 and 29) or Lola Indigo (March 22) but the situation has taken an unexpected turn: the club has just announced that it is cancelling all events at the Bernabéu until May 2025.
The reason? The continuous protests by residents about noise, dirt and traffic in the area since the stadium opened its doors to commercial activity. The measure also affects the artist Dellafuente and to the festival of K-Pop and leaves more than 240,000 people who had already bought their tickets ‘on the street’. The decision was taken last Thursday night, when Real Madrid sent a notification to those interested stating that they were forced to look for new dates for the events booked until May 2025 due to the incidents that occurred at the last performance last weekend.
In response to protests from residents, Madrid City Council admitted that the permitted levels were being exceeded and that the organisers of the concerts were going to be fined. Instead of cancelling the events, the club and the council had announced measures to alleviate the inconvenience, such as a maximum of “20 large concerts a year” and the installation of special screens. This was not enough to convince the Residents’ Association for People Affected by the Bernabéu, which filed a complaint in the Investigative Court Number 53 of Madrid and which the corresponding magistrate, Mónica Aguirre de la Cuesta, admitted for processing, with the Madrid team’s subsidiary being charged with an alleged environmental crime according to article 325 of the Penal Code, for having exceeded the noise limits at all the concerts they have been holding since 26 April.
The club, however, claims that this is not a judicial decision but rather a decision that the club itself has taken to try to reduce the impact of the events on the citizens of the surrounding area. They will carry out new reforms to reduce the impact of noise and they affirm, according to Cadena SER, that they are working with the promoters to reschedule the concerts. For its part, the Residents’ Association is satisfied but is not burying the hatchet.
The tactical withdrawal of the @realmadrid (suspension of concerts for a period of time) is good news, but insufficient. We will continue to fight until we are assured that there will be no more improper uses in the stadium that violate fundamental rights.
— Ruido_Bernabeu (@RuidoBernabeu) September 13, 2024
The Bernabéu’s accounts
The cancellation of events at Real Madrid’s stadium until May 2025 is a major blow for the club, as the list of companies that have requested to rent the complex is endless. This was revealed by authorised sources at Real Madrid, who assured that “there are not enough days in the year” to host all the proposed events.
According to Bankinter and Futboljobs, renting the merengue venue can cost around 100,000 euros, although the real business is found in the big events, such as the Karol G. or Taylor Swift concerts, since, as published by The voice of Galiciabetween 50 and 70% of the turnover goes to Real Madrid. At the macro event ‘swiftie’, for example, a total of 13 million were invoiced. Do the math.
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