Real Madrid dealt crippling blow as Cepsa pulls €400 million stadium sponsorship
By Ben Sundock
News today out of the Spanish capital is saying that Real Madrid has lost the biggest stadium investment from a third party company in Spanish football history. Oil and gas multinational company, Cepsa, has withdrawn their sponsorship for the Santiago Bernabeú and its future renovations.
President Florentino Perez might have a crisis brewing at his club. Early Monday, several news outlets reported that Los Blancos have lost their sponsorship deal with Cepsa that was agreed upon back in 2014 the Daily Mail and El Economista report.
The stadium naming rights deal that was agreed upon nearly four years ago was canceled by the oil company as they felt the renovations that were agreed to take place at the Bernabeú were not what they expected and are expected to not be finished on the schedule that was set up.
The team was granted permission from the city of Madrid to begin working on renovations early last week, however without a stadium naming rights partner now, the renovations will be again put on hold until another sponsor can be found.
This could prove a bigger problem for Real Madrid long-term as the club would need to sell players in order to bring in other new big name players. While the major renovations of adding a retractable roof to the stadium will be put on hold, other smaller renovations can continue with the club paying out of pocket.
The reason Cepsa pulling their huge investment is even bigger than you may think is because that money was going to be in turn used to sign big name players in the summer in order to “revamp” the squad.
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Now, as they did in the summer of 2014, Real Madrid will need to sell big-name players in order to fund purchasing other big-name players.
Following the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Real sold Angel Di Maria, Alvaro Morata (the first time), and Xabi Alonso to bring in James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos.
So, does this mean the club could sell someone like Isco, Marco Asensio, or Gareth Bale? Yes. All of these players could be on the transfer list if President Perez and Zidane feel that significant change is needed.
Raphael Varane and Isco will definitely be in the conversation to leave the club as they would without a doubt draw the most money from powerhouse clubs across Europe. Despite ranking second in revenue through the 2016/2017 making £592.8 million, the club still needs additional funds.
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There is no need to panic yet as summer is still four months away, but this could be a potential club disaster if no new naming rights sponsor is located soon.