How football stadia became the new battleground for top clubs
It’s no coincidence that Real Madrid have strengthened their position as football’s richest club in the year that they fully reopened their Santiago Bernabeu stadium after a £1bn revamp.
Stadia – or rather, how to make more money out of them – are a growing battleground among top clubs eager to mine new sources of revenue.
While commercial deals remain the biggest differentiator between the incomes of the top 10 teams in Deloitte’s Football Money League and the rest, matchday is the fastest rising revenue stream, with double-digit growth, as European football wakes up to the earning potential of US mega-venues.
“Particularly post-Covid, clubs have focused on revenue diversification, and doing so by aspiring to be stronger football brands globally, but also the intersection of media and entertainment,” Kunal Sajdeh, of Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, tells CityAM. “That’s something that Madrid has harnessed, and particularly with the new Bernabeu at the centre of that.”
The Bernabeu redevelopment only increased capacity by a couple of thousand to 83,000 but has transformed a decrepit concrete structure into a gleaming 21st century arena, complete with 360-degree digital scoreboard, and protected by a retractable roof and metallic facade. To use a football analogy, they have replaced Joselu with Kylian Mbappe.
This futuristic home makes it not only an enviable stage for Real Madrid’s 30-odd home games a year but also non-football events that can add significantly to commercial revenue.
Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras tour called there last summer, while this year it will host an NFL game. Matchday revenue is now more than double 2020’s and commercial sales rose 19 per cent in 2024 as the club became the first to record €1bn in total revenues.
It’s a playbook already used by Tottenham Hotspur, who have topped up their coffers by staging NFL fixtures, rugby matches and gigs by the likes of Beyonce at their new home in north London.
Real Madrid benefiting from being frontrunner
Others have reaped the benefits of more modest stadium projects, like Liverpool’s Anfield Road Stand, which took capacity past 60,000. No wonder architects are in demand.
“You will see more clubs host more live events, but also enhanced capacity. We’re already seeing that,” adds Sajdeh, who says around half of all top clubs have recent or ongoing stadium projects.
Barcelona are hot on rivals Real Madrid’s heels with their own Camp Nou rebuild, while Manchester City are expanding the Etihad Stadium and Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made upgrading Old Trafford a priority at Manchester United.
Arsenal and Chelsea are exploring their options while, elsewhere in England, Fulham’s high-end Riverside Stand and Everton’s new home are nearing completion, and Aston Villa are building an arena next to Villa Park.
“Madrid has been bearing the fruit of being a frontrunner, in terms of having that ready a little bit earlier than others,” says Sajdeh.
“Their enhanced capacity, ability to sell premium VIP seats and be relevant to the media and entertainment side of things is really what’s helped them stand out and create that gulf [with other top clubs].”
Tomorrow’s stadia need not only extra seats but more premium offerings to satisfy more experience-driven younger generations, says Sajdeh.
He adds: “If clubs continue to expand capacity to capitalise on pent-up demand and also offer fans a little bit more than they do today, there’s no ceiling to us for how matchday revenue can grow.”