Ever since Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez "announced his vision of a futuristic stadium" back in '04, the "general feeling" among club members is that the project was "somehow jinxed," according to Eduardo Alvarez of ESPN.com. For "those of us who started to visit" the Bernabéu in the early '80s, "its transformation is astonishing even before this new project" and has just one name responsible for it: Florentino Pérez. Likely "due to his civil engineer background or his work as the head of a large construction company," one of Pérez's priorities since he took over the club presidency in '00 "was to improve the stadium." Back then, the Bernabéu "looked like a mess: there were old seats, poor access, an entire section that would get wet whenever it rained, stairs breaking down and plenty of space unexploited." Previous presidents like Ramon Mendoza and Lorenzo Sanz "had ignored the decaying stadium, only altering its shape to comply with changes in regulation" such as the all-seater law in '98. With a "completely different approach based on the idea that the stadium had to evolve with the sport," Pérez worked to improve the infrastructure in each of his mandates. His business instincts "have taken Real Madrid to the top of the revenue list year after year." And his work with the stadium "is a fundamental part of his legacy as president" (ESPN.com, 10/11).
FANS SPEAK OUT: In Barcelona, Óscar Zárate reported Pérez "is receiving a lot of criticism on social media for not bringing the remodeling of the stadium to an assembly or having members vote on it." The hashtag #FlorentinoDimision (#FlorentinoResignation) is circulating on Twitter, where fans "are showing their opposition to Pérez." Oct. 23 is the date when the club's next general assembly is scheduled. It "is expected that there will be more opposition than in previous years" despite the team winning the Champions League and recently announcing strong financial numbers (MUNDO DEPORTIVO, 10/12).
