How The NFL Pulled Off Its First-Ever Regular Season Game At Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

Happy Saturday, friends. I was in Chicago this week delivering a keynote speech at the Chicago Sports Summit about Formula 1’s U.S. growth and what other sports leagues can learn from Liberty Media’s success. I hope to share the video with you soon. But in the meantime, we need to discuss the NFL’s first-ever regular season game in Madrid, featuring the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders.

This weekend’s game will take place at the iconic Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Home to Real Madrid, the newly renovated Santiago Bernabéu is easily one of the world’s best sports venues. American media members on the ground can’t stop talking about how nice it is, and I believe it will be the NFL’s best-ever international game. That’s because even if it ends up being a blowout, Santiago Bernabéu will provide a show.

I don’t usually send out newsletters on the weekend, but today we’ll make an exception. Rather than a 2,000-word write-up breaking down the NFL’s first foray into Madrid, below are some of the most important and interesting storylines you need to know. Enjoy the game, and we’ll be back to our normal schedule on Monday.

The newly renovated Santiago Bernabéu features a retractable pitch that sits beneath its surface. Separated into six pieces, the fully automated system allows Real Madrid to move its entire field underground within a matter of hours. Once it’s in storage, the field is maintained in an artificial greenhouse, complete with ventilation, air conditioning, irrigation systems, LED lights, and motion cameras.

The NFL had to extend Santiago Bernabéu’s field by about one and a half yards on both sides. To achieve this, the NFL worked with a construction crew in Madrid to demolish field-level stands and extend the concrete flooring beneath the field.

The NFL initially planned to play its first-ever game in Madrid at Metropolitano Stadium, the home of La Liga’s Atlético Madrid. However, with Real Madrid’s renovation plan now complete, the NFL chose to use Santiago Bernabéu instead.

The Miami Dolphins spent this week practicing at Metropolitano Stadium (because private equity firm Ares Management has ownership stakes in both the Dolphins and Atlético Madrid). As a result, the Washington Commanders were sent to Real Madrid’s practice facility, a massive 300-acre training complex with more than a dozen practice fields, a recovery space, and even 57 hotel rooms.

Santiago Bernabéu’s renovation included the installation of a 360-degree video scoreboard, making it the only stadium outside the U.S. with this technology.

Unlike most American stadiums, Santiago Bernabéu only has a few hundred parking spots, all of which are located underneath the stadium. Real Madrid submitted a proposal to build two additional underground parking lots with 2,000 spaces connected to the stadium via a tunnel. However, the proposal was denied by the court, primarily because it was deemed unnecessary. Most fans pay just €1–2 to take the metro on game day, which drops you off directly outside the stadium.

Mediaset’s Cuatro channel will broadcast the game in Spain, the NFL’s first-ever free-to-air broadcast in the country. And with Spain requiring nationwide channels like Cuatro to cover at least 96% of the population, virtually all of Spain’s 47.8 million residents will be able to watch Sunday’s game at no additional cost.

The Miami Dolphins are sacrificing a home game at Hard Rock Stadium to be the home team in Madrid. Miami agreed to do this because 1) they own marketing rights in Spain, and 2) they are aiming to become the team of the Spanish-speaking world. Similar to the Jaguars, the Dolphins have expressed interest in hosting an annual game in one of the team’s international marketing territories — Spain, Brazil, or Mexico. That’s because 65-70% of Miami residents speak Spanish.

While the Dolphins are sacrificing the ticket revenue that comes with a home game at Hard Rock Stadium, the team won’t go home empty-handed. All 32 NFL teams share equally in the ticket sales from international games (except the Jaguars, who have their own unique deal). The NFL implemented this policy a few years ago (when they started requiring every team to play international games).

The NFL’s global marketing program can be confusing, but the simplest way to explain it is that teams apply for and are awarded exclusive marketing rights in specific countries for a minimum of five years. This allows them to host in-person events, sell sponsorships and merchandise, develop youth programs, and receive priority for international games in their territories. All 32 teams now have at least one international market, with some teams, such as the Los Angeles Rams, obtaining marketing rights to seven different markets. It’s also worth mentioning that just because a team receives the rights to a market, that doesn’t mean they own the entire market. The Miami Dolphins share Spain with the Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs, while nine NFL teams have marketing rights in the UK.

About 700,000 digital devices were waiting in the queue to purchase a ticket when the NFL put them up for sale, far exceeding the stadium’s 84,000-seat capacity.

The NFL typically retains all ticket revenue, but Real Madrid should generate seven figures from food and beverage sales alone. Even a modest $15-$20 per-cap spend results in $1.26 million to $1.68 million in concession sales (based on 84,000 attendees). Then, you can add in a stadium hosting fee, VIP hospitality, and on-site merchandise sales (that occur outside of the NFL’s official merchandise store).

The NFL estimates 90% of international game attendees are from that market.

Due to player complaints, the NFL’s field testing process has gotten much more sophisticated over the years. The NFL’s field director has made seven trips to Madrid since 2023, and the surface will be thoroughly tested in the days leading up to the game. That includes various pieces of technological equipment, measuring everything from the hardness of the field to the amount of energy returned to the player’s body after a step. The NFL also now recommends specific cleats based on the coefficient of friction between the cleat and the field.

Real Madrid spent $1.9 billion renovating Santiago Bernabéu, but that number sounds worse than it is. The interest rates on Real Madrid’s construction loans range from 1.5% to 2.5%. The club also didn’t have to make any payments until the renovation was complete, and the increased revenues from hosting other events are more than enough to cover the $71.5 million annual debt service payments.

The NFL has now played (or scheduled) regular season games in seven countries since the launch of its international series in 2007: the United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Ireland, and Spain, as well as a game in Australia next year.

Madrid’s municipal police department will deploy 425 officers for this weekend’s game, primarily responsible for traffic control, street vending, fan zones, and escorting the team to and from the hotel and stadium. In Spain, every town with at least 5,000 people has a municipal police department, with 425 officers representing about 6% of the 7,000 officers within Madrid’s municipal department.

The field at Santiago Bernabéu is composed of stitched hybrid ryegrass from the Netherlands. The surface is 93% natural grass, with the remaining 7% consisting of synthetic fibers driven seven inches into the ground to provide additional stability and traction. Real Madrid also uses the same grass at its training facility, so the Washington Commanders should be well adapted to it by Sunday’s game.

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