Scrolling through companies listed on the Nasdaq, the name “Nomadar Corp.” sounds like a defense industry startup or a nomadic radar outfit.

In fact, it’s a subsidiary of Spanish soccer club Cádiz CF, and a newly public one following a direct listing on the Nasdaq in November.

Cádiz CF, based in the far southwestern tip of Spain near the Straits of Gibraltar, plays in La Liga’s second tier. The 115-year-old club has played 16 seasons in the top flight, but has spent another 43 in the Segunda Division. It’s the yo-yo nature of promotion and relegation that contributed to Cádiz CF forming Nomadar.

“Cádiz has traditionally been between first and second division, and the problem when a club goes to the second division is you get a whole financial cut in terms of revenues,” said Joaquin Martin, CEO of Nomadar North America. “It makes it difficult to go back, to get promoted. This is precisely to change that, in order to strengthen, be more competitive and give us stability.”

So what, then, is Nomadar? It’s a vehicle for the soccer club’s non-soccer activities, including a major real estate project called Sportech City.

The club is building a $350 million, 40,000-capacity multipurpose stadium that will be used for hosting large events, including conferences, concerts and, of course, soccer. In advance of Sportech City’s projected 2031 opening, the club is growing a concert business at its current stadium, the 20,700-capacity Nuevo Mirandilla, where Jennifer Lopez played a show this past summer.

Nomadar also houses the club’s digital business, including a data analysis-heavy High Performance Training program that is conducted in-person but is being digitized so that it can scale globally, beginning this year, and an e-commerce merchandise business built around club legend “Magico” Gonzalez.

La Liga has encouraged its teams during the last five years to look for alternative revenue lines outside of TV rights, sponsorships and ticketing streams, and Nomadar falls firmly within that remit.

“All the side business is thought in order to strengthen the health of the club and in order to be more competitive,” Martin said.

Cádiz’s ownership group, which has taken tech companies public before, pursued a direct listing with the Nasdaq, which differs from a traditional initial public offering in that it sells only existing shares of a company, instead of issuing new ones. For Nomadar, it’s more of an effort to raise awareness than new funding.

A direct listing often saves companies money by avoiding fees charged by intermediaries, such as underwriters, but lacks the safety net and stock price stability that those same underwriters provide for traditional IPOs.

Spotify also went public via direct listing, for example, but its brand would need little introduction to the stock-buying public. While Cádiz CF has a surprisingly large global social media following — it has 16 million followers across all social media platforms, with especially strong presences on TikTok and Weibo — its brand would be nowhere near as recognizable, and Nomadar shares are trading at just above $4 as of last Thursday.

Other big European soccer clubs are publicly listed — Manchester United, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund. And in the U.S., the Atlanta Braves are publicly traded (as an entity that includes their subsidiary real estate business). But Cádiz differs from those in that it listed a separate business, not its core function as a sports team.

“Knowing the pros and cons of a publicly traded company in terms of corporate governance and transparency, it was a way to show the market all our growth,” said Martin.

The company’s growing digital presence will soon be married to physical real estate in the impressive form of the 1.2 million-square-foot Sportech City, part of a larger 3.1 million-square-foot development.

The venue will include a hotel, space for retail and a sports clinic, organized around an arena mostly covered by a canopy that can host all sorts of events, including Cádiz CF matches, if the fans decide so (more on that later).

Flexible space designed specifically for hosting conferences and other types of large gatherings will be scattered throughout the structure. The goal is to accommodate, feed and stage the largest conferences all in the same place; capacity to do so is currently lacking in Spain’s touristy Andalusian coast.

“It’s being designed from zero, so that way you can incorporate the requirements of the top world organizers, events, congresses, conferences,” said Martin.

It’s the same change in how sports venues are envisioned that’s happened in America during the last decade.

“Stadiums are underused,” Martin said. “That is one of the things that is actually a driver for this project: how to maximize the space for productive days per year.”

Sportech City will create new revenue streams, too, better steeling Cádiz CF for its fluctuations in on-field performance and, maybe, ultimately providing the club with the financial strength to prevent them. Those revenues include Sportech City naming rights, venue rentals, licensing and a sponsorship program built around the tech-centric nature of the place.

The real estate project is being financed in part by the Cádiz CF majority shareholder, but the club and Nomadar are still open to other, more traditional forms of raising capital. Nomadar is running the development, though conversing with different partners about the project.

Construction is scheduled to start by the end of 2026, with a planned opening by the end of 2030. The venue will be built in El Puerto de Santa Maria, just north of Cádiz, which itself sits on an isthmus jutting into the Atlantic Ocean and was historically an important port city. Nomadar recently inked a five-year agreement with the town to lease a plot of land on which to build the development, with a Nomadar purchase option at any point during the term.

In an incredible reminder that this project is taking place in Spain and not the U.S., the fans will decide if Cádiz CF plays at Sportech City.

“Fans are very tied emotionally to their stadium, so in this moment, the president said, ‘OK, the fans will decide,’” Martin said. “We are not the first that faced this situation; I know other clubs that to change the location where they play is very emotional, so it’s something that’s there.”

Bret McCormick can be reached at bmccormick@sportsbusinessjournal.com.

Nomadar Corp.’s SportTech City Nomadar Corp., a publicly traded arm of Spanish soccer club Cadiz CF, is building a 40,000-capacity multi-purpose venue in the southwestern tip of Spain. (Nomadar) SportTech City SportTech City will be built in Spain’s touristy southwestern coast. Cadiz CF hopes the project and what should be a busy events calendar bolsters the soccer club’s finances against the unpredictability that accompanies relegation and promotion. (Google Earth Pro) Nomadar Corp.’s SportTech City Nomadar Corp., a publicly traded arm of Spanish soccer club Cadiz CF, is building a 40,000-capacity multi-purpose venue in the southwestern tip of Spain. (Nomadar) Nomadar Corp.’s SportTech City Nomadar Corp., a publicly traded arm of Spanish soccer club Cadiz CF, is building a 40,000-capacity multi-purpose venue in the southwestern tip of Spain. (Nomadar) Nomadar Corp.’s SportTech City Nomadar Corp., a publicly traded arm of Spanish soccer club Cadiz CF, is building a 40,000-capacity multi-purpose venue in the southwestern tip of Spain. (Nomadar) Nomadar Corp.’s SportTech City Nomadar Corp., a publicly traded arm of Spanish soccer club Cadiz CF, is building a 40,000-capacity multi-purpose venue in the southwestern tip of Spain. (Nomadar)