Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez has "not given up on the planned overhaul of the
Santiago Bernabéu stadium," according to Díaz & Polo of MARCA. After the Madrid High Court of Justice's
ruling on Wednesday, Real now has to "put forward a new project with the
necessary technical changes and negotiate a price for the land that the
building extension would occupy." As things stand, the project "will not be approved until the beginning"
of '16. This is not the first time that the Madrid High Court has
"scuppered urban projects." Atlético Madrid's project was "also thrown
out," and Real's Valdebebas sports complex proposal was "initially" as well. Neither
the local council nor the local government "will appeal the judge's
ruling" (MARCA, 2/12). In Madrid, Marco Ruiz reported without the ability to appeal, Real is hoping the City Council and Community of Madrid "will modify the regulation." Madrid Mayor Ana Botella said, "Independently of it having anything to do with what is necessary to resume the project, it is evident from the deadlines that we do not have time to solve this before June." Madrid Municipal elections are scheduled for May 24 (AS, 2/12). AS reported the court's ruling "also leaves in the air" Real's €140M ($160M) sponsorship deal with Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company, which was intended to help fund the stadium renovation project. It is a five-year agreement, "but the bulk of the money was dependent on the start of the renovations." It was planned that IPIC's logo would initially appear in Real Madrid photo shoots and on the grass for the "modest price" of €3M ($3.4M) per year. After the start of construction, IPIC was to pay €20M ($22.8M) per year for five years, with an option to extend it for two more years (AS, 2/12).
