Florentino Pérez, still not entirely happy with the four designs for a redeveloped Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, has postponed a decision between the entries and instead given the architects until the 30th of April to improve their work.
The four design were presented to the public in October last year, and it was expected that Pérez would make a decision soon after the four firms had made their pitch in person.
In November, however, first reports came out that Pérez was pushing the decision ahead, either because he wanted to have the architects make further changes, or because of political reasons. The club has now formally indicated that a decision will indeed be postponed until at least the end of April.
While Norman Foster’s design turned out to be the fan’s favourite, Pérez’s preferred design was rumoured to be GMP’s model. This most of all seemed to result from hem sticking closest to the guidelines laid out by the president before the project started.
However, instead of granting the assignment to GMP, Pérez has decided to give the other architects the opportunity to improve on their earlier work and come back with adjusted versions.
According to Spanish newspaper Marca, there are three very specific demands:
1. Capacity of the new Bernabéu needs to increase with 5,000 to 10,000 seats. This had not been one of the initial requirements, even though two of the proposals did include expansions, but it is now. The reason is that the club-president wants to give a signal to the socios that the redevelopment has benefits for them as well*.
2. The new Bernabéu needs to have a retractable roof. This had been a wish from the start, but was ignored by all architects except GMP.
3. The third demand is that the new Bernabéu needs to have a 360-degree video board, which had been part of Populous’ proposal. Pérez sees this as another advertising channel on top of the boarding around the pitch. If this is not possible, an alternative may be a video board hung above the pitch such as Frankfurt’s Commerzbank-Arena has.
Earlier reports suggested that Herzog & De Meuron were least open to change their designs. You can view all of them here.
However, even if Pérez manages to make a choice, there is still the issue of funding that is unresolved.
In the past, Real Madrid used to do business with the local Caja Madrid bank, but this bank was dissolved in the Bankia conglomerate, which in turn was nationalised as a result of the economic crisis. Now that the bank is in state hands, it is not willing to engage in risky projects anymore.
Instead, Madrid are looking to issue a bond that will raise €250 million for the project. They have already had contact with various European banks that may be interested in underwriting the bond, but it is clear that it will be a high-risk venture, which requires high interest payments in return. Madrid’s television rights may furthermore serve as a collateral.
As an alternative, Pérez is also still exploring the possibility of bringing in an Arab investor, especially in relation to the commercial development which is to be included in the building, though no suitable party has been found yet.
* Real Madrid, however, currently rarely sell out a regular league match.