The past few days have added significantly to the overwhelming sense of shock and awe that must have Real Madrid‘s rivals quaking in their boots right now. On the pitch this weekend, they treated their nearest LaLiga challengers to a night of pure brutality — a performance of such contempt, authority and intensity that it snarled “How dare you try to sit at our top table?”
Poor old Girona; so far this season they’ve treated us to such impish, audacious entertainment, but Saturday’s 4-0 humbling saw them receive a proper corrective. It was clinical to the extent that Yann Couto, usually one of Girona’s standout players, was not only presented with firm evidence as to how far off the required elite level he is, but was also left shedding tears of self-pity by the final whistle having been torn to shreds by Vinícius Júnior down the wing.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
Míchel, Girona’s Madrid-born coach who, notwithstanding that defeat, deserves gigantic plaudits for how much entertainment he’s squeezed out of a relatively average squad, admitted: “Madrid have left me with egg on my face and reminded Girona that the title race isn’t really the battle we’re in.”
Yet it’s here where I note that Madrid’s imperious victory needs to be assessed in a much broader context.
Only four days previously, Madrid and the NFL jointly announced that either the Miami Dolphins or Chicago Bears will play a regular-season home match in front of an 85,000 capacity audience at the Santiago Bernabéu next year. Spain’s capital now joins London, Munich, Frankfurt, Mexico City and Toronto in having been awarded this massive opportunity to bask in the world’s gaze, and it’s significant that Real Madrid, rather than Atlético Madrid, won the right to host.
There was open competition between the two LaLiga clubs and, on paper, the Estadio Metropolitano is modern, well-situated, has already successfully hosted a Champions League final and is a fine venue capable of holding 70,000. But the NFL were swayed by the fact that the Santiago Bernabéu is a huge, recently remodelled arena that, crucially, has the ability to close its roof and become a dome. This arguably offers the ultimate big-event experience: no exposure for players, fans, sponsors or media to any kind of adverse weather.
It’s well-established that beyond the core financial agreement between NFL and a host club outside North America regarding a big game, there are also a series of fantastic ancillary benefits (financial, prestige, marketing) coming down the line — in this case to Los Blancos and their neighbourhood. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 21-16 win over Seattle Seahawks at Bayern Munich‘s Allianz Arena in November 2022 was calculated to have brought a €70m impact to the city; Madrid are confident they’ll out-strip that.
Again, even this NFL announcement needs further context, as there are other seismic events from which Real Madrid are about to benefit.
We know that the privilege of hosting the FIFA Men’s World Cup is coming to Spain in six years’ time: the 2030 tournament will be theirs, with partner matches in Morocco, Portugal, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. What we don’t know, formally, is where the jewel in the crown, the final itself, will be played. But you can absolutely bet your bottom dollar — and please, come back and tease me if I’m wrong — that it will be in the Santiago Bernabéu.
