Florentino Pérez’s ambition to make the Santiago Bernabéu the most modern and profitable stadium in Europe has turned into an economic nightmare. According to ABC Spainthe total cost of the renovation project is now around 1.163 billion euros, almost three times more than the initial estimates. The adventure, started in 2019 with a budget of 575 million, quickly got out of hand with two additional loans of 225 and 370 million euros which were taken out to complete the work. The objective was clear, namely to transform the Bernabéu into a cash machine, open 365 days a year, capable of hosting concerts, events and lucrative VIP areas. But the reality was very different. After just sixteen concerts, complaints from local residents about noise pollution forced the club to suspend events, thus depriving Real Madrid of a crucial financial windfall.
Faced with this budgetary asphyxiation, Florentino Pérez activated what the Spanish press calls a “financial leverage”namely the sale of 20% of the future revenues from the stadium (concerts, parking lots, operation of commercial spaces) to American companies Sixth Street and Legends. In exchange, Real Madrid collected 360 million euros in advance, a sum paid directly into the club’s treasury. But always according to ABC Spainthis sum should have been recorded as a debt, and not as income. This accounting treatment would have allowed Real to present an artificially healthy balance sheet and avoid a reduction in the salary cap imposed by La Liga. A former employee of the club confides that, without this sleight of hand, Real would have recorded more than 40 million euros in losses that year. This financial arrangement is now fueling criticism of the transparency of the Madrid president’s management.
A giant with feet of clay
In this tense context, Florentino Pérez would consider a radical measure by transforming Real Madrid into a sports limited company (SAD), a status allowing private investors to enter the capital of the club. According to sources close to management cited by ABC Spainthis idea, still taboo for many people, would be studied to attract fresh capital and reduce the colossal debt linked to the stadium. Real Madrid, owned by its members for more than a century, would thus lose part of its identity to adopt a model close to that of English or Parisian clubs. Pérez knows that such a decision could cause an institutional earthquake, but faced with financial suffocation, he would have few alternatives left. The hypothesis of opening the capital to American or Middle Eastern investment funds is already circulating in Madrid economic circles. As if the financial crisis was not enough, Real Madrid is also going through a zone of institutional turbulence. The general assembly scheduled for November 23 could be suspended, following a petition filed before the Madrid provincial court by a club member. The latter contests the legitimacy of the current electoral list, asserting that it would include up to 20,000 ineligible citizens.
In a document revealed by ABC Spainthe complainant asserts that the holding of the Assembly “would consolidate potentially null situations”compromising the legality of the decisions of the board of directors. The court, which initially rejected the complaint, finally agreed to examine an appeal, threatening to paralyze the meeting supposed to approve the 2024-2025 accounts. Such a suspension would be an unprecedented snub for Pérez, already weakened by the growing discontent of some members of society. Despite flattering operating figures, the club finds itself caught in a tangle of debts, litigation and potential losses. The car parks adjoining the Bernabéu, supposed to generate 320 million euros over 40 years, were suspended following legal actions brought by local residents, even threatening the stadium’s candidacy for the 2030 World Cup final. The concerts, supposed to be the club’s new cash cow, were stopped in their tracks. And the illusion of a self-financing model crumbles as economic reality takes hold. Behind the facade of luxury and trophies, Real Madrid is going through one of the most perilous periods in its modern history. At a time when debt is accumulating and sources of income are drying up, a question remains whether Florentino Pérez will still be able to save his dream, or if he will have to cede the keys to the Madrid temple to foreign investors. In any case, the empire built by Florentino Pérez is faltering.
