Spanish football giants Real Madrid will embark on a €525 million renovation of their iconic Bernabeu stadium – and tech is at the heart of the plans.
The club’s general assembly voted in favour of updating the grand old ground after president Florentino Perez promised it would generate €150m a year in additional revenue.
It will take the European champions 35 years to pay off the debt – but they are getting plenty of bang for their buck.
The outside of the Bernabeu will have a layer of steel bands that can light up and also project images while €100m has been earmarked for the latest digital technologies – “one of the essential features of the project”, according to Perez – including a 360-degree video scoreboard, a dedicated space for e-sports and an interactive museum showing the club’s history in full virtual reality.
There will also be a retractable roof.
Perez also said that €300m of the funds would improve the area around the Bernabeu and include “digital points of sale of the most prestigious electronics and consumer brands… this will turn common areas into a showcase for global news.”
?? The new Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.#RealMadrid pic.twitter.com/6qUYfsPPEA
— Real Madrid C.F. ???????? (@realmadriden) September 23, 2018
He added: “Our current situation, of great economic safety, makes the club ready to tackle one of its greatest challenges: to turn the Santiago Bernabeu stadium into the best stadium in the world.”
Real expect to begin construction early in 2019, once they have received permission, with the works set to take three and a half years.
The video in the tweet above shows how they are planned to progress.