Over the last few years, there is a shift change in the role of a sports stadium in the club’s business, the biggest perhaps, is its contributions in the total revenue of the club. For the 20 highest revenue generating football clubs, contributions of stadium based revenues have increased significantly with each passing year crossing over €2bn in gross revenues for the first time in 23/24. And that contributed 18% of the aggregate club revenues for these 20 clubs increasing from 16% share reported in 18/19.
Real Madrid has become an example in this space with their newly expanded Santiago Bernabéu stadium reporting 103% increase in stadium revenue over 22/23 figures thanks to increased, new luxury VIP boxes and a more attractive ticket offer for fans. The stadium, though, is undergoing works and is expected to be fully complete in 2024/25 which will to the revenues in a significant manner.
Stadiums are no longer limited to the matchday. The non-matchday set of packages, from stadium tour visits, retail outlet sales to various conferences and events. Some stadiums like Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu, has sealed deals to host other games like NFL further adding to the revenue.
The point is, stadiums are evolving rapidly to become an epicenter of culture and connections. In this blog, we look at the modern stadium and the increasing need for stadium investments.
The Modern Stadium
The shift to a modern stadium or more specifically, the need to shift to a modern stadium is driven by two most important factors:
- To Increase revenue: With the media rights value plateauing or in some cases struggling to command the appropriate value, the focus moves towards the commercial and stadium related revenue streams. These are under the control of individual clubs. A revamped, modern, multi-utility stadium can become a strong commercial asset for the club. Such a club would be able to increase the non-matchday revenue to greater heights with activities like stadium tours, renting for non-sports events like concerts and even to other sports like NFL. Further, there is the stadium naming rights factor which, surprisingly, has seen very little efforts from football leagues in Europe. As per Kroll’s Valuations Advisory Services, stadium naming rights for a top team has the potential to earn upto €30mn per season.
- Changing Nature of Fan: There is a drastic change in the way a fan interacts with the sport. Today, fans want more. They are not satisfied with watching the game, they are looking to experience the game in a closer manner which means, they interact with multiple devices while watching the game. Using social media while watching, statistics, videos, filming, creating content while watching, these are some of the ways a fan experiences a match. All this include strong internet connectivity, which brings us to the point of ‘smart stadiums’. The support tech-ecosystem is ready for the fans but needs the physical infrastructure which a smart stadium is well equipped to handle. A survey of 1,000 UK football fans commissioned by Imagineear, specialists in media and technology for visitor experiences, show that roughly a quarter (26%) say an advanced, tech-enabled ground with state-of-the-art features such as big-screen HD TVs throughout, WiFi, and mobile connectivity are very important for living the match experience. Thus, the smart stadium is becoming a necessity.
Stadium Ownership Status
Since 2023, there has been a substantial increase in fixed assets investment reported by Europe’s top-division clubs. As per UEFA Benchmark Report 2024, €2.2bn of new investment in fixed assets (majorly includes stadium investment and small portion of other fixed assets) were reported in Europe’s 700+ top-division clubs in 2023, which is actually double that of 2022. Further, the number of clubs reporting fixed asset additions of more than €10mn also doubled during 2023 with four clubs adding more than €100mn to their fixed assets. Multi-purpose stadiums are the catalyst for an increase in revenue and therefore the need for a complete rebuilt or a partial redevelopment arises.
At the end of 2023, 88 top-tier clubs (12% of the total) owned their stadium directly, while 62 (8%) reported that their stadium was owned by another company in the group or belonged to the club’s owner. A further 64% of top-division clubs’ stadiums were owned by state or municipal authorities, while the remaining 16% were under the control of other commercial entities.
A trend that’s being noticed in the last few years is that clubs with higher revenues are increasingly gravitating towards redeveloping their existing stadiums, either total reconstruction or partial redevelopment. It’s not a surprise that stadium rebuild and renovation projects in European football are on the cusp of an explosion.
New Wave of Development
According to a Deloitte analysis of sports infrastructure developments taking place in 2025, around 300 sports stadiums worldwide are currently being renovated to attract a new wave of fans. Almost 50% of these new stadium infrastructure projects are expected to take place across North America and Europe.
One of the latest progress made in stadium redevelopment related projects is the approval by Milan city council regarding the sale of iconic San Siro to Italian soccer giants AC Milan and Inter Milan. This could potentially lead to the iconic stadium being torn down and replaced with a 71,500-seater shared stadium. Both the Italian giants are reportedly set to pay €197mn to the city of Milan for the stadium and surrounding area. The deal still needs to be officially confirmed by the city government.
Another big development has been the concept released by Manchester United to build a completely new stadium, right next to the current Old Trafford, which is to be demolished once the construction is completed. As per StadiumDB.com, Leeds United has also taken serious steps toward modernization by renovating its Elland Road and increase capacity by nearly 20,000 seats. Then there is the supposed plan from Newcastle United to build an entirely new stadium.
The need and necessity of a new and modern stadium is felt by the European clubs. It remains to be seen how bureaucracy and business join hands to create the future.
In Conclusion
It is becoming quite clear that a football club will have to diversify its revenue sources from the skewed dependence on broadcast income and need to emphasize on increasing the commercial and stadium revenue streams. With the increase in private investments in European football, the stress on infrastructure development with the aim of increasing enterprise value will only be multiplied.
Perhaps Real Madrid’s renovation of the iconic Santiago Bernabéu and reaping the handsome benefits is a case study of the stadium redevelopment saga.
