Florentino reigns on ‘matchday’; Laporta cashes in to the rhythm of Ed Sheeran

Sunday, October 26; 4:15 p.m. The ball begins to roll at the Santiago Bernabéu before the attentive eyes of millions of spectators from around the world and two presidents – Florentino Pérez and Joan Laporta – who, regardless of what happens on the pitch, know that they have already won before the match begins. Because the president of Real Madrid himself already said it: “El Clásico is the great reference of our sport at an international level.” And this is how the numbers contrast it.

Leaving football analysis aside, its magnitude is palpable in the balance sheets of both clubs, which know how to materialize the high expectations aroused by their confrontation with an important economic boost. From commercial agreements to an exorbitant increase in pricing, the two major Spanish football entities are drawing up different strategies to take advantage of an event that, in line with the inertia of Spanish tourism and leisure, seeks to attract an increasingly premium customer.

On an economic level, the white team arrives at the match as the first to knock down the 1,000 million euros in revenue from the entire ‘football planet’. Its numbers place it as the most expensive entity in this sport with a market valuation close to 6,750 million, according to Forbeswhich Pérez himself recently raised to 10,000 before his partners.

This milestone is largely to blame for the sales phenomenon that is felt in La Castellana, where no club in the world makes more money than Real Madrid on match days: 248 million euros per year on matchdays alone. The figure, taken from the Deloitte report ‘Football Money League’ doubles that recorded a year ago

The increase was mainly realized due to the commercialization of Personal Seat Licenses 1, which provided an increase of approximately €76 million, as well as the sale of new VIP seats and the increase in stadium capacity from December 2023. The club also reported a 20% increase in commercial revenue (from €403 million to €482 million), driven by increased merchandising and new sleeve sponsorship. While waiting for the celebration of concerts to be resumed under the conditions that are approved, the Club foresees even more growth in income from VIP capacity, RM experience and the rest of the stadium’s commercial exploitation activities, highlighting the great event that the celebration of an NFL game in the stadium will involve.

On the other hand, FC Barcelona fell to sixth position after a decrease of 40 million euros in revenue, from 800 million euros in the 2022/23 season to 760 million euros in 2023/24. This decline was due to a 63 million euro drop in match revenue due to the matches being played at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, a stadium with almost half the capacity of the Spotify Camp Nou, which is currently under renovation. However, with the club expected to return to the Spotify Camp Nou in 2025 (with stadium works completed ahead of the 2026/27 season), it is expected to benefit from increased match and commercial revenue in the coming seasons.

Economic impact in Seville; EDSHEERAN; Money League; employees