according to realmadrid.com its 74000 and somthing it wil be increased by about 2000 when they put a roof thing over the side of the ground that is not covered. this will increase the capacity to about 77000.
Do they really need to expand the stadium? I think that the stadium has plenty of seats. It's not like every game is full to capacity.
Hold on! I thought Santiago Bernabeu's capacity was some where near 98k-100k!!! Am I wrong? I know Camp Nou is also near 90K+
Camp Nou is one of the largest. Expanding the Bernabeu is not done with the expectation that every game will sell out. They want to have more capacity for those games they could sell twice over, like the game against Barcelona, CL quarters and semis, and maybe the one against Atletico Madrid.
I understand their logic, BUT I was still curious about the 95K-100K figures for Camp Nou and Bernabeu. Thanks.
Actually the stadium capacity is 80,000 seats (VIP seats included). All la liga games in Bernabeu have been sold out in the last 2-3 years. The same for all the big CL games. You have to wait 3 years to can be socio/member of the club and get a season ticket for all the games.And even being a member you could not have a season ticket, because there are more members (82,214) than seats (80,000). The clubs also have 1,646 supporter groups (peñas) around the world, and more than 300,000 people with the supporter card. All that people have preference to buy tickets. it's means that usually the club don't sell tickets to the public for the big games (or to other games). And the people can pay for a ticket of a big CL or la liga game, 600$ or more. The stadium capacity was 90,000-95,000 some years ago because in some zones of the stadium you were stand up. But that changed 10-12 years ago, since then you have seats in all the places of the stadium, but the capacity was reduced around 75,000 seats. Now, it's 80,000.
MadridForever, You know more than me, so I give you an example that contradicts your information so that you can explain. I went to a game against Mallorca at the end of the 2001-2002 season. Real Madrid had to win to stay in the title race, but it would mean nothing if Valencia won that weekend. I was able to get a seat, before I was a cardholder, two weeks in advance for 30 euros. . I bought the ticket on the phone, and then I took a poster from the stadium that showed the prices. At the time, that was one of the higher prices listed for the game. People even told me not to worry because it was only Mallorca. It did not look like the stadium was sold out. Maybe it was sold out but thousands of season ticket holders didn't show up.
Thanks MadridForever + CobbleStone! So what you are saying is that if I travel to Madrid, the likelihood of me getting tickets for any Real Madrid match are 1 in a 1,000,000!!! To me supporting a club is like being part of a community, and I do want to visit Europe and see a few matches. That is why selecting a club for me has to do with can i see their matches ever on tv, will i be able to chat with other fans about our club, website in english, and will i be able to WHEN i visit that country someday..catch a match.
I think you can get a ticket when you go, as long as you plan ahead. I base that on the fact that when I was in London for 6 months, I tried unsucessfully the whole time to get a Manchester United ticket, from within the same country, yet it was not difficult for me to get a Real Madrid ticket via the telephone, calling from Greece. About the ease of watching them: Probably the second or third-most watchable European team in the U.S. Unfortunately, there is a bias in the U.S. for MAnchester United, and the Premiership in general. Many Americans think it is the best league, but really, year-to-year, it is usually one of the top four leagues. And Manchester United is definitely one of the top teams, but again, I say it is one of four or five top teams that change in power every season. Right now, FSW has occasional Man U games, but that could change any time. Real Madrid is available, every single game, on one of two satellite channels, Gol TV or ESPN Deportes. They're on ESPN for the big Champions League games, too.
Re: Thanks MadridForever + CobbleStone! No, You haven't many problems to buy ticket to the games against the small clubs. All the games of the last years have been sold out but some of them are sold out in the last day. If you can go to buy tickets two or three day before the game you wouldn't have problems (it is not sure). In the big game against Barcelona, Valencia, Deportivo, Atletico de Madrid,.... and the big games of CL will be very very dificult to buy tickets for the reasons that i said in my first post. Well, Although if you have money you always will be able to buy tickets to the scalpers. Catfish, your way to support a club is great. It's how it works in South America and Europe, and in other places in the world. The clubs are very important to the people. It's not only go to see a expectacle, the clubs represents many things to the people, and the people is very identify with their teams. For that reason many clubs as in Europe (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic in spain, and other outside spain,...) still aren't companies. I think that the concept is different in USA, where the teams change of city, name, .... CobblestoneFootball, I'm member/socio and season ticket holder of RM and what i said in my first post is based in the information that the club have send to its members and in my experience of going to the Bernabeu all the games. I don't remember the Mallorca game , but it's normal that you find some empty seats in the stadium. The reason is that some ticket holders don't live in Madrid or even in Spain, and they only go to the big games. To provent that, since last year, the Season ticket holders that are not going to go a game can communicate it to the club and the club will sell that seat (and part of the money will be discount of the season tickets of the next year). If you find spaces in the low zones, it is almost sure that will be season holder seat, becuase in that zones the 90-95% of the seats are of Season holders. Also in the upper zone of the stadium, there is always a security empty zone with empty seats to separate the rival supporters. As i said to Catfish, you can buy tickets in the last week "without many problems". For example the last game against malaga is a sold out , one day before the game. And Malaga is a "small team" and this game can be seen in free in TV in Spain. Normally, the 80-90% of Real Madrid games in Spain are PPV. http://www.realmadrid.com/web_realm...icia.jsp?idnoticia=40562&sec=1&subsec=0&esp=2 Anyway CobblestoneFootball, I hope that you enjoy the game against Mallorca, and your visit to Madrid. The game against Mallorca in Bernabeu of the last season wasn't very funny, we lost 1-5.
you'll hav no probs getting a ticket. i have just arrived home from the malaga game. it is easy to get tickets for games like that, but not barca valencia etc
MadridForever, Thanks for the information. I posted what I did because I thought you might be discouraging a new fan from supporting the club by making it look like there's no chance he could get into a game unless he pays for a membership, too. So do they have the season ticket holders tell the club if they won't be using their tickets for a game so the club can sell them to someone else? I only have the Carnet Madridista. One day when I am rich, I will be a socio and fly in for the derby.
The plan for a new stadium is 2012, so what are they going to do with the Bernabeau by then? It will be a 5 star stadium with all the renovations. It will be a pity to sell it after all the renovations in 8 yrs. Any chance Atletico will end up with it.