Concerts at the Estadio Metropolitano are a problem for local residents, who are organising along the lines of their Bernabéu neighbours to force the club to change its approach. They are bothered not only by noise or traffic jams, but also by coverage problems.

Concerts “steal” coverage from Metropolitano neighbours

Neighbours of the Estadio Metropolitano have had coverage problems since the last antenna on a building's roof was removed in 2015 for health reasons, but concerts at the stadium have made the situation significantly worse. As 20 Minutos reports, sharing the internet with a 60,000-strong crowd causes the network to stop working. This interferes with entertainment, homeworking or even payments in local shops.

In response, residents of the San Blas-Canillejas district have started collecting signatures, demanding that more antennas be installed. Although the matter is the responsibility of telecommunications companies and the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the district's authorities approved a document urging the government to include the district in the Plan for Connectivity and Digital Infrastructure.

We demand investment in network infrastructure in our neighbourhood to prevent digital exclusion and ensure that all residents can access basic digital services in a relevant and efficient way, the neighbours, quoted by 20 Minutos, demand.

However, this is not the only condition the neighbours are putting on the concerts. Although - as they assure - they do not want them cancelled, they do want the soundproofing of the stadium. As the city council defends Atletico Madrid by claiming that sound standards are not exceeded, the neighbours' associations hired a specialised company to carry out measurements. The San Blas-Canillejas neighbours have not yet said their last word.

© Grzegorz Kaliciak | One of the arguments of the San Blas-Canillejas neighbours is that the stadium was only built in 2017 and they had lived there before.