Real Madrid

Many of the great football clubs around the world generate considerable income from the commercial exploitation of their sports facilities. In Real Madrid’s 400 million euro annual budget, this sort of income allows the Club to make great signings and, most importantly, to limit the financial contribution of its Club Members, whose annual fee has been frozen in the past couple of years.

The days in which football stadiums only came alive 20 or 25 days a year are now over. Today, great football clubs around the world –who thanks to their history and prestige have the best players in the current football scene- look for other lines of business, offering a variety of services for prestigious companies that wish to hold their meetings and events in unique venues.

Financial resources
Important companies tend to make Real Madrid their first choice due to the Club’s prestige and the location and quality of its facilities, but the commercial exploitation of sports facilities is common practice amongst the elite of football clubs around the world. Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea, Arsenal, Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich and several others also use their stadiums as a source of income. Earning money with ventures such as these is crucial for Real Madrid to be able compete with other international sports entities owned by rich men that finance them with their personal fortunes, such as Abramovic (Chelsea) and Berlusconi (Milan). Unlike the latter clubs, Real Madrid belongs to its more than 80,000 Club Members.

The commercial exploitation of its facilities and VIP Areas supplies Real Madrid with a 15% of its total annual income, with a 59% global increase since the 2005/06 season, highlighting the increase of the following departments: events, 5%; balconies and VIP Area, 61%; Stadium Tour and exhibitions, 110%; restaurants, 65%. The income these sections produce is nearly as large as the money produced from the Club Members’ annual fee, which amounts to 17% of the whole annual income. This has allowed the Club to be consistent with its policy to favour its Members and freeze their fees in the last two years.

Management model
As a non-specialised company in managing said sources of income, Real Madrid enlists the services of several entities to help with the commercial exploitation of its resources. Marsans Sports, Carlson Wagonlit, Grupo Ñ, Viajes El Corte Inglés, Ogilvy Activa, amongst others, perceive a 10% of all the sales made by the Club. VIP Packages –comprised of tickets and access to hospitality areas- have been part of the Club’s commercial offering since the 2003/04 season. In the last four years, tickets included in said packages have the phrase ‘Not for sale’ printed on them in order to avoid them being re-sold illegally by their purchasers.

Real Madrid’s offer spans simple events for as few as 10 people, to mass events like the recent Bruce Springsteen concert, which gathered 80,000 fans and was managed and co-ordinated by the Club’s Events Department.

Close to 400 events took place at the Club’s facilities in the previous campaign, including 248 external acts such as the Zaragoza 2008 World Expo, the aforementioned Bruce Springsteen concert, the presentation of the Wii Sports video-game console by Nintendo –attended by 800 journalists- and several others... Brands such as Audi, Antena 3, Master Card, Banesto, Cannon, Cepsa, Diario As, Recoletos, IBM, Jaguar, Mahon, MAPFRE, Oracle, Philips, Renault, Telefónica, Vodafone, Toshiba, El Corte Inglés, La Sexta, Vocento, Coca-Cola, Sogecable, Feria de Madrid, Ayuntamiento de Madrid and many more dealt with Real Madrid last year. Other events were of an institutional nature, such as the Club’s Just Causes campaign and the reception of 400 expeditionaries of the Ruta Quetzal.

Stadium Tour, a 365-day event
The content and concept of the Stadium Tour has been evolving since 12 December 2003, and it is now a must-see cultural offer in the vast touristic circuit of Madrid. The Tour had record visits last year, selling 700,000 tickets, 40% of which were bought by foreigners. The income produced by the Tour has increased 110% since the 2005/06 campaign.

Promising future
The great demand from important companies allows us to believe there is a bright future for the commercial exploitation of the sports facilities belonging great football clubs. In Real Madrid, great enterprises see an offer of unparalleled venues that are perfect for their promotional events. This will allow the Club to continue generating important income that will also benefit its Club Members.