Real Madrid's temple impresses with its futuristic facade, the video scoreboard, the hypogeum or the retractable roof. However, it is involved in a dispute with neighbors that seems to have no end and damages the image of the best stadium in the world, arguably. Let’s find out who is to blame for the failure of its model.

A project for the future

On January 31, 2014, five years after returning to the presidency of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez announced in the VIP box the selection of the GMP, L35 Arquitectos and Ribas & Ribas project for the remodeling of Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. The model showed an unrecognizable Los Blancos’ temple. An illuminated metal facade, an irregular shape, the retractable roof, a 360-degree video scoreboard... More than a soccer stadium, the three studios’ project looked like a spaceship.

The time has come to face a new challenge that will mark our history. A good part of our legend was born in this stadium and our greatness will continue to grow here proudly announced Florentino Pérez, who presented the new project together with Volkwin Marg, architect and founder of GMP. The Bernabéu was to become a global symbol.

When works began in May 2019, the costs, previously estimated at €400 million, had already risen to €575m. Then the pandemic and the war in Ukraine sent material prices soaring, but Madrid, instead of reducing the scope of the works to cut costs, announced the construction of a hypogeum under the pitch to preserve the turf, increasing the price to €1.17 billion.

© Nuevo Estadio Bernabeu | Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in 2020

Resistance is born

Florentino Pérez circumvented the price increase thanks to three loans from three different entities. The economic plan for the new Bernabéu foresees that the stadium will cover the costs of its own refurbishment in a few years thanks to revenues calculated at around €400 million per year. Ticket sales, new VIP boxes, concerts, sporting events beyond soccer: all the elements calculated for the perfect plan.

However, everything began to go awry on January 5, 2023, although by then, Madrid did not know it, nor did it intuit it. But it was on that day that the Neighbors Association of the Affected by Bernabéu (AVPB) was born. The Association in just one year went from being a local problem to the reason why the Bernabéu model is failing.

The neighbors, whose number grew to around 1,000, opposed the increase in events from 35 to 300 a year (matches, concerts, congresses, sports of all kinds), the reduction of lanes in the streets near the Bernabéu, the construction of a private tunnel for the club and a parking lot. They were also concerned about the possible increase in crime, the degradation of the environment and noise.

© Madrid1902

Decibels, traffic interruptions and dirtiness

While the works at the Bernabeu continued, neighborhood complaints were not so problematic. They began to be so during the peak of the new Bernabéu's popularity, since a month after the viral premiere of the 360-degree video scoreboard in the Clásico, Taylor Swift and his fleet of trucks arrived in Chamartín to literally shake the stadium.

The first reports about the noise came after the rehearsals, but the concert was what consolidated the neighbors and made the Association's objectives known to a wider public. El País claimed to have recorded 87 decibels inside a building near the stadium, with 58 being the legal limit and 85 the limit of the level considered safe. Decibels are measured logarithmically, and that means that the noise was 1000 stronger than the level allowed by law. However, due the human ear is built, that translates to a perception of a sound 8 times louder than it was supposed to be.

But that was not all. The double show of the American was only one of about fifteen concerts, in which celebrities like Duki, Manuel Carrasco or Karol G, filled the Bernabeu four nights in a row. With each concert, the list of complaints about the noise, the dirt around the stadium and the constant traffic jams grew longer. The checks by police officers on residents trying to return home or leave the area were another inconvenience.

© Real Madrid

One problem after another

In response to the complaints, the City Council in June announced that it would lower the limit of annual concerts from 30 to 20. But this measure did not calm the waters in Madrid, as the neighbors did not consider it sufficient. The continuous pressure led in September to the total suspension of concerts at the Bernabéu just one day after the stadium was elected best stadium in the world by World Football Summit.

From then on, things started to go wrong for Real Madrid, which suddenly saw its home being questioned as the venue for the 2030 World Cup final, and the press leaked information about the delays in the new Bernabéu's crown jewel, the Skybar. As if that were not enough, Justice also paralyzed the works on two parking lots and a tunnel that were ceded by the City Council for the private use of the club.

But what may cause more damage is the judicial war that the club and the AVPB continue to wage. And is that the Association accuses Madrid of not having a valid operating license and having held concerts without waiting for the green light from the fire department, accusations that the club rejected with a harsh statement, accusing the neighbors of stating categorically false information in a malicious way. However, the AVPB has so far not given its arm to twist, and maintains its accusations, calling its efforts a fight David against Goliath. Both the club and AVPB are avoiding answering questions about their mutual accusations.

Following statements in court by José Ángel Sánchez, Florentino Pérez's right-hand man and sole administrator of the new Bernabéu, the promoters who received fines totaling €801,000 also took a stand against the club, communicating through the Association of Music Promoters (APM) that it is the club that must guarantee the soundproofing of the stadium. The latest statements accusing music promoters as responsible for acoustic violations for concerts held in the stadium are generating a climate of distrust in our sector, alerted the association.

© NAVE DEL MADRIDISMO

In search of a solution

The suspension of concerts is a headache for Real Madrid, which needs the income ment to be generated by world-class stars. That is why the club is looking for a solution to unblock the events. According to some sources, they have offered to soundproof the houses in the surroundings. The information was denied by AVPB, and then reconfirmed by part of the press. However, no such work has been carried out.

The other variant is to soundproof the Bernabéu itself, but this does not seem simple, since the façade layers are not glued one to the other and the Skywalk also leaves the stadium open, as do the gates. Plugging all these holes would require a total modification of the ventilation system and would involve more work. Another option would be to place very strong absorbers, as detailed by acoustic consultant Francesc Daumal i Domènech for Somos Madrid.

That is, if possible, since the expert doubts that any of the two options is viable. Enrique Martínez De Azagra, the president of the AVPB, also doubts it. I am an industrial engineer and I know something and therefore this is virtually impossible to soundproof because you would have to hermetically insulate everything, the representative assured. However, Real Madrid has commissioned the multinational Arup the task of finding an effective way to reduce noise.

Conchi Sande, a neighborhood resident, shares with us her opinion on how this situation came about: We believe that the club acted without taking into account the needs of the neighborhood, because they have been there for a long time and they thought it was not going to cause so much discontent. I think that the noise got out of hand for them. Now the neighbors are well organized, and they are going the legal route, she says, but also stresses that it is not about being anti-Madridism: The club has always been well received. We are all well aware of where we live.