During a media event on Tuesday, execs at Spanish energy company Cepsa, which is owned by Abu Dhabi's Int'l Petroleum Investment Co., "finally said that Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu will be called the Abu Dhabi Bernabéu," according to Tomás Roncero of AS. The idea to use IPIC was rejected. On Nov. 19, Real President Florentino Pérez was caught on camera "apparently revealing the future name of the club's revamped stadium as either 'IPIC Bernabeu' or 'CEPSA Bernabeu.'" Abu Dhabi will finance a significant part of the €500M ($568M) renovation of the stadium, paying the club €20M ($22.7M) per year (AS, 1/28). In London, Sid Lowe wrote the report "has not been confirmed by Real Madrid." Real signed a deal with IPIC at the end of October. The deal was understood to be worth €3M ($3.4M) a year until Real begins work, when IPIC would pay €20M a year. What the stadium will be officially named "remains to be seen" but its days of being just the Santiago Bernabéu "are numbered" (GUARDIAN, 1/28).
CEPSA BERNABÉU?: In Madrid, José Félix Díaz reported Real Madrid's revamped stadium "could end up being called the Cepsa Bernabéu." The project is currently "on hold owing to legal proceedings, but the
'Los Blancos' higher-ups are hopeful" that the new-look ground could be
ready by the end of '17. A "final decision on the naming rights will be taken once a series of
studies and proposals have been assessed in full." Abu Dhabi Bernabéu and
IPIC Bernabéu are among the "other options that have been considered." Under "no circumstances will the word Bernabéu be dropped from the name, though" (MARCA, 1/28).
