The venue, the home of the European champions for the past 68 years, is due to undergo major expansion work - the project is currently being held up by legal proceedings - with a sponsor's name attached upon completion.
Madrid signed a deal with the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) in 2014 to enable them to fund the redevelopment of the ground and, although the club have yet to publicly announce the agreement included naming rights, president Florentino Perez has admitted the Bernabeu could be given a "surname".
It is believed IPIC proposed the Abu Dhabi Santiago Bernabeu but that was dismissed by the club. Another alternative was the IPIC Bernabeu which was again rejected and the two parties finally settled on Cepsa - an energy company owned by IPIC.
The revamp will transform the Bernabeu into a 90,000 capacity arena with the club hoping the work will be done by the end of 2017.
After a long tendering process, the final renovation contract was awarded to German architects GMP Architekten, in conjunction with Catalan company Ribas&Ribas. The stadium will have a retractable roof as part of the new design.
Building work on the site will be suspended for home matches, allowing the club to continue playing games at the Bernabeu during the course of the re-construction.
No comments:
Post a Comment