Wick take reins of Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

Article posted by Coliseum, July 23^rd, 2024

Image: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Fernando Pascullo, CC BY-SA 4.0

The LaLiga club Real Madrid CF have appointed their former Director of Sponsorship, Retail and Licencing, Alex Wicks, as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the new Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain.

‘The Athletic’ stated that the English-born executive joined the Real Madrid CF in 2019 from Arsenal (Premier League team Arsenal F.C., UK) where he was Head of the Partnership Department.

The Real Madrid CF is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid (Spain). The club competes in LaLiga, the top tier of Spanish football.

The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of 85,000, the stadium has the second-largest seating capacity for a football stadium in Spain. It has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947.

The role of stadium CEO exists because Madrid created a limited company to manage all the stadium-related businesses called Real Madrid Estadio SL.

‘The Athletic’ further stated that the CEO of the Bernabéu is in charge of managing this limited company and therefore making the most of the stadium through events and other projects.

Wicks will replace Santiago López-Vilas, who has been the stadium’s CEO for more than two years, and will be relieved of his duties to take up another position within the club’s organizational structure.

Real Madrid wants to make more changes over the coming months within their business area.

López-Vilas has been involved in the stadium’s operations while its construction was being completed.

The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium has undergone extensive renovations and the refurbishment works have cost €1.17 billion ($1.27bn) excluding interest. Including interest, it is more than €1.8bn.

During this period, López-Vilas has had to deal with the problems that the works have caused for the neighbors of the area – who have protested against them and have asked that massive concerts, such as Taylor Swift (American singer-songwriter) performing there in May, not be organized.

López -Vilas has also negotiated various agreements for the stadium, such as the landing of a National Football League (NFL) game at the Bernabéu and, above all, coordinating with the Legends company.

The American firm Legends, in collaboration with the Sixth Street fund, signed an agreement in 2022 whereby they paid Real Madrid €360m to attract new events to the reconfigured stadium in exchange for 30 percent of those revenues for the next 20 years.

Founded in 2008, New York (US)-based Legends is a premium experiences company with six divisions operating worldwide – Global Planning, Global Sales, Hospitality, Global Partnerships, Global Merchandise, and Legends IQ – offering the clients and the partners a 360-degree service solution platform to elevate their brand and execute their vision.

Currently, Legends works with marquee clients across business verticals including professional sports, collegiate, attractions, entertainment, and conventions and leisure. They are the industry leaders in designing, planning and realizing exceptional experiences in sports and entertainment.

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