There has been a massive controversy regarding Atletico de Madrid's stadium. The Vicente Calderon was expanded years ago, and now part of it lies above the M-30, one of Madrid's circumvular highways. The problem is that the government in Madrid now wants to convert the highway into an undergound tunnel, and build a park where it is now for a nice riverside green area, along the Manzanares river. Because of the expansion, the stadium will have to be torn down. Atleti has been fighting this but because they are essentially on government property, they have lost out.

Now Atleti have to find a place to play while they're old stadium goes down. Many options were discussed including playing at the Bernabeu (Atleti officials vehemently deny this rumor). The most likely option will be La Peineta, a stadium on the other side of Madrid. The good thing is that it is still rather large, but its not the best place in the world and many Atleti fans will have to drive a long distance to get to the matches. This is an extremely touchy subject and many colchoneros are livid with Enrique Cerezo, the club's president.

The bigger story remains what they will do in the long term? Will they build a new park? Will they remain at La Peineta?

Although a bit of hell hole, I do like the Vicente Calderon. It has a pretty cool match day atmosphere and the road winding underneath the stadium adds a little character. It was built in 1966 though and could definately do with a revamp. It's also one of five Spanish stadia to be included in the UEFA '5-star rated' list.

Personally, I would like to keep playing at the Calderon, but with the government seemingly focussed on tearing the old place down it's a tough decision where to turn to. The Bernabeu is a bad option for me, the playing surface would suffer, Real would charge the club millions of Euro's and the overall consensus from the fans would be poor.

La Peinete would be an adequate option for the club. It is currently being renovated and seats 73,000 which is more than enough. With a bit of cash pumped into it, it could become a temporary home for Los Colchoneros in the coming years. I wouldn't want it as a permanent home though. It was designed as an Athletics stadium and doesn't seem to have the atmosphere of a top club's football ground.




Didn't a bomb go off at that stadium last year?

Well, after doing some research, I found this article from as.com, stating that La Peineta will soon be in Atleti's hands:

http://www.as.com/articulo/futbol/Gallardo...sdaiftb_28/Tes/

Basically, I believe the article suggests that if and when the proposal goes ahead, the stadium will be totally renevated, but the club won't be the official owner until 2016. If reaching an agreement, the Madrid council and Atleti each will pay about €130 millions to build the modern stadium, with capacity for 70,000 spectators. Although my translation is poor, I also believe it details that the council will pay Atletico around €250 million to buy-out the Vicente Calderon, and that there are suggested methods to oversee the main problems; the matchday atmosphere ruined by the athletics track and where the stadium is situated.

The future stadium would be the centre of the Olympic project of Madrid 2016, situated in Canillejas. The plan photo certainly looks impressive:



Can anyone give a better and more detailed translation of the the main points in the report?

Anyone got any updates on this topic?

It seems like another plan for the stadium.

http://www.as.com/articulo/futbol/Atletico...sdaiftb_22/Tes/

Incredible news for Atleti de Madrid. I mean, really incredible.

It seems that the city's free spending ways continue, and the government will pay Atleti between 320-350 million euros (the figure depends on certain tests that are pending to determine exactly how much can be built on those lands). Moreover, the city will GIVE them La Peineta, of which Atleti will be the sole proprietor. The City was worried that this would harm their chances of getting the olympics in 2016, but Atleti has promised to give several concessions, including having retractable seating in order to fit an Athletic track, in order for this to happen.

The new stadium will sit 65,000 and it will be more accessible than the Calderon, which is a dump I might add.

What seemed like such a grim deal for Atleticos a year ago has turned into one of the most historic deals in its history. If they manage their money well (there are doubts about this) Atleti can vault itself into a new class amongst European clubs.

If I get you right, Atletico will sell El Calderon for 320million and receive La Peineta for free? That would be some deal

I find it hard to believe that the govt are so dumb. Or are they really? If its true, then lets say atletico will overtake barcelona and real madrid in Spanish league with that kind of money to throw about.

What a steal for Atleti, the fans there have suffered for years with promising yet abysmal teams, so they deserve this. Not good news for other teams in La Liga though

This is about as a good a result as Atletico could ever have wished for. A truly exciting result and one that could affect the club's structure hugely in year's to come. With that kind of money we can make huge changes and improvements to La Peineta, such as the retractable seating over the athletics track, before our scheduled move to the stadium in 2009.

In addition to having what could become great European 5* stadia, with excellent access and facilities, Atleti would obviously command a huge sum of money available for transfer fees and be able to attract players of the highest calibre. We would be up there with Chelsea, Real, Barca, Man Utd, Inter etc. in regards to the signings we could possibly make. But, as Nando says, there is obviously a doubt over how well the club will handle our finances. What is the biggest chance in Atleti history to become a massive European club could aldo turn into the biggest farce ever witnessed on the continent, and with our track record of poor signings, bad management and corrupt directors we will have to be very careful. I just hope Javier Aguirre is still in charge when the changes are implemented and the money changes hands, and he has his feet firmly on the ground.

I will miss the Calderon's atmosphere and tradition as will many other Atleti fans, but this deal really makes the issue a little easier to accept. Instead of worrying about the outcome of the negotiations, some fans will now be looking forward to the proposed move.

The possibilities are endless, does anyone have any other stories regarding this subject?

I would love to see this rumour confirmed. How official is the article?

The reason Atleti have been able to get such favorable terms is because they were forced to the negotiating table. The government is forcing them to leave El Calderon, so Atleti were negotiating from a position of strength.

Also, that money won't allow them to overtake Madrid or Barca. Madrid and Barca's annual income still makes them richer clubs, and with the new TV deals that both teams have signed, it wont even be close. Atleti still dont have the audience and market power to compete with them. That money won't all go to transfers. Atleti have outstanding debts they have to pay off, and part of the money will go into the stadium.

Still, this makes Atleti the third most powerful club in Spain.

As if they weren't already!

Well, not really. They traditionally have been but really lost out in the late 90's because of the Gil mess and the fact that they were in second division for two years. They never really fully recovered from that trauma and got overtaken by Valencia in terms of power and influence.

Yeah I know where you're coming from and we've definately had this conversation before. I started following Atletico in the Radi Antic era and at that time we were definitely in the top three sides in Spain. Since then the relegation to the Segunda and the emergence of the likes of Villarreal, SuperDepor and Valenica in particular have pushed us down the pecking order, but hopefully under Aguirre, we can once again rise to the top in La Peineta.

Well even though Atleti are somewhat historically the third team in Spain over the last decade or just over no way would I say that. They have just been an average mediocre team. Spent loads of money most years on players that were expected to make Atleti great again but it just never happened.

Now I have said some pretty anti-Atleti things before but I don't feel any hate or dislike towards the club; I just think they are being overhyped in present. But I respect history and I must admit that Atleti have a good history. I respect and acknowledge that because its important.

The other thing is that Valencia are in G-14 and Atletico Madrid aren't. I think that also tells you something about the two clubs and how Europe veiwed them. I know that it was established in 2000(Valencia being added in 02) so its recent stuff and Valencia have had some good form winning the Copa del Rey the year before and the first CL final. Then after the next CL final and the two leages we were added.

But if Atleti really want to be seen as the third team in Spain the money will have to play a part but what they do on the pitch will play just as bigger hand. How humiliating will it look if Atleti are pumped full of money and get new players and the club still "underacheives"(I don't think they are underacheiving atm because they've been saying it for so long) A huge respnsibility would have to be put on Aguire's shoulders; which I think he could handle but still it won't be easy. Atleti have already bought a host of high profile players and aren't really impressing anyone significantly. How much money has Atleti spent this year?

For this season for Atleti to put themselves back on the map they need start winning games and try and qualify for the EUFA cup and maybe have a decent run in there. Then for next season try and improve and get into the CL but I can't see it happening too easily. Sure Atleti have some quality but atm I still think Villarreal, Celta, Depor(suprisingly now not before the season), Valencia, Sevilla and even possibly Zaragoza have more than them at this moment. But I think with some luck and good form Atleti will be able to finish higher than some of those teams.

The other thing that wouldn't hurt is backing up the hype of being the third team in Spain with actually beating some bigger teams. Already lost to Valencia, Zaragoza, Depor. The only suprising result was to beat Sevilla and they had 9 players. Villarreal and Barca coming up lets see if Atleti can beat them.

^Thats a nice read Jesse.

Apparently this link suggests that Gil Marin has made a statement saying that a deal has not been struck for the stadium. Can anyone translate please?

http://www.mundoatleti.com/20061104/NOTICIA238400723.html

Voetbal International (very reliable Dutch magazine) wrote that the deal is almost done. After some hard negotiations, Atleti got more than they'd expect. It seemed like the deal would be 250ME for the Vicente Calderon, but at last the cityboard gave 350ME. But Atleti won't get the new stadium for free ! They'll invest a lot of the 350ME in the new stadium, and in paying off a 100ME loan they have. But still there will be a lot of money left to invest in new players etc.

The stadium will be made for the Olympics 2016, who might be in Madrid (not confirmed I believe...) I hope the stadium won't get a running-track around the pitch...But at least it's made clear that Atletico will be the owners of the stadium, that a huge plus.

The Olympic venue (nation) won't be confirmed until 2009 I believe, but if it were to be held in the stadium of Atletico Madrid I would be very proud

Me too, but as I said I'm afraid that there will be a running track around the pitch then. That would be disgusting ! Hopefully it's will be a removable track or something, one that can be shoved under the seatings

Yeah I think that's the plan. It may not be that the track is removable but the seating can be laid over the top of it. In that case it will bring the fans closer to the pitch, just as they are in the Calderon.

I personally love the Vicente Calderon, although it is a shithole. I never get a chance to go there, but from watching on TV the atmosphere is electric and it must be a real buzz for the Atlético players to walk out on that pitch in front of a packed stand. The stadium at La Peineta will lose all that matchday atmosphere, but the move will have so many benefits for the club that it's almost impossible to turn it down, from a fans perspective and a business perspective.

That's logically reasoned


Sure the atmosphere from the Vicente Calderon will be lost, but that doesn't have to be bad. FC Groningen (Holland) is playing in a new stadium since January 2006, and haven't lost one match at home ! They're unbeatable at home, and everyone fears going there. And the matches are great to watch too, they always score a lot of goals. This season they came 2 goals down twice, but managed to turn it around and win.

That example just shows that the Atleti fans can create a new atmosphere too, and it probably can become better than it's now. I'd love to go to Atleti before they're leaving the Vicente Calderon too, I haven't been there before, but I feel it's a must to visit the Vicente Calderon and the Mestalla once before they're closed. I loved how Kun celebrated his goal vs Villarreal , the crowd went totally loose

This is good news for Atleti. The sums suggested may be inflated but there will still be alot of $$ left in the bank and that should mean more quality on the pitch. This further stables the clubs progress and it is a very tidy little deal.

According to Mundo Atlético the negotiations between the club and the town council are in a complete stand-still and they won't be resumed before the end of May 2007.

El Calderón pasa por las elecciones

Atlético and the city council are back in talks

Mundo Atleti: Atleti y Ayuntamiento, sólo al habla

AS: GALLARDÓN RECONOCE QUE NEGOCIA CON EL ATLÉTICO Y MAHOU PARA RECALIFICAR SUS TERRENOS

Marca: Ruiz-Gallardón reconoce negociaciones con el Atlético y Mahou para recalificar sus terrenos

The Atlético board and the city council have restarted talks over the Vicente Calderon stadium, but the Atlético boards wants to make clear that there isn't any kind of agreement yet. And there probably won't be any deal for the coming weeks, or most likely months. Marca says the parties might have an agreement within two months.

I'm not sure of the facts, and the articles are hard to read for me, but undo Atleti names something that's worth €120 million Maybe that Atlético gets €120 million for el Vicente Calderon and it's ground? I think that in that case the city would finance the Peineta.

First of all Atlético is STILL the number 3 in Spain ...

You are talking about the G-14, who is doing nothing recently, but you forgot the media presence, the TV-Deals, the amount of fansm, etc.

Especially in Valencia you shouldn't talk much about debts of other teams

But I like Valencia, so I don't want to provocate you ...


About the stadium:


MAYBE No Calderón, but for sure NO Peineta!

Official announcement from the club, same as above but in English:

I asked Tim Stannard, a sports writer, about what was going on with Atléti's stadium worries, and he said:

I just found this video outlining possible development to La Peineta on an Atleti forum, and if this is indeed the proposed plan if we're forced to sell the Calderon to pay off some debts, then it looks like being one hell of an arena.

I've uploaded it to YouTube for you guys.



http://youtube.com/watch?v=8U8p52he-Fs

http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/...lo/1021890.html

Today there's a meeting for the "dismantling" of el Calderon. It's expected that there will be an agreement today, I think

This looks like its finally going to go down, and looking at it somewhat objectively, it had to be this way. First of all, el Calderon was a shit hole, really not a stadium worthy of the type of club Atleti aims to be. It would be embarrassing to host a big Champions league game there, with the worlds press present. Theyd think Atleti was a mediocrity.

Second of all, the rumors indicate that Atletis aggreessive transfer policy the past few seasons has been financed quite ¨creatively¨. There is a sizeable debt there and the added revenue from the bigger, better stadium would help soften that burden.

Although with Cerezo and the Gil family involved, I wouldnt believe that everything was just peachy, it looks like this is a big step forward for Atleti.

Yeah, and a lot of people aren't happy with it.

We're getting La Peineta in 2010, and it will be officially ours in 2016 after the Madrid Olympics, if they get it.

Are we getting La Peineta for free then? :S

I haven't read all reports yet, I only saw some basic info, which doesn't tell everything btw

The small movie Nick posted earlier is also the movie which was shown on the press conference yesterday. Atlético will move out of the city, more than 10km away from el Vicente Calderon, to el Parque Atlético de Madrid, where La Peineta will arise. The Peineta will have 73.000 seats. Until the Olympics 2016 (which aren't even confirmed to be in Madrid) Atlético will hire the stadium. After that it will be ours.

There are some questionmarks left though, maybe I can find out the answer later:
-What exactly are the costs for Atlético?
-What do we get for el Vicente Calderon?
-What will be the profit for our club?

On that last question various sources have speculated. El País estimates a profit between €15 and €35 million, after paying for the redevelopment of el Calderon and the M30 road.
El Confidencial says there will be a loss over €75 million.
AS estimates our debt will be reduced with 66%.

Another question: What about the Olympic tracks around the field?

As the movie shows there will be stands above the tracks. But I don't know if those will be there before or after the Olympics. It could very well be possible that we'll have to play with those ugly tracks until the Olympics, until we own the stadium.

It's clear that the fans aren't happy with the plans. They love el Calderon, and don't want to have to travel to la Peineta for every match, since Peineta is far, far away.

Theres good and bad points to this i feel. The good is that ye will get a new, better stadium that will create more revenue but will have to see what costs and stuff yet. The bad, Vicente Calderson, whenever I have seen it creates a wonderful sound and is a place clearly the Atleti fans adore and of course having a travel much further to get to home matches for quite a few. More will be angry than Happy IMO

If the new stadium is far away, how is transportation going to be handled. Does the Metro reach out to the stadium, or is there a commuter rail. Certainly it is accessible by roadways but a big city like Madrid needs transportation options by rail and road, not to mention accessibility from the airport as well.

The plan looks very good, and the proposed stadium (after renovation) looks excelent. I just hope they move the stands close to the field, because the track really sucks.

Also, I think that the Madrid government is right in giving Atletico the money. They gave Madrid a great amount of money for la cuidad deportiva (training grounds in the city) which helped relieve Madrid's debt, buy the galacticos and help start their training facility outside of the city. It worked out beautifully for Madrid (financially, now sporting-wise as well) and hopefully this move can have the same effect for Atleti.

EDIT: WOW I just found an article on AS about it and it sounds pretty good.

http://www.as.com/articulo/futbol/dasftb/2...sdaiftb_44/Tes/

Cerezo and Juan Gervas (Madrid's Mayor) signed an agreement. Atletico will leave the Calderon in three years. The new stadium will have a capacity of 73.739 spectators and Atletico will not move in until the stadium's renovations are complete. The Stadium will become fully owned by Atletico after 2016 (Madrid are Olympic hopefuls, until then the stadium will be owned by the city).

As for the Calderon, it will be torn down and used as a green zone with sporting facilities. It will be called the Atletico Madrid park. There are some breweries in the area, not really sure how they figure in, but beer is great so it CANT be a bad thing . They will also expand a school in the area. As Nando said before they will finish putting the M30 (highway) underground which is good news for the city, as it becomeos more modernized and the air will hopefully be cleaner as a result.

The new stadium will NOT have an athletic track according to AS. The stadium will only get a track if Madrid wins the Olympic bid and the track will only be added a year in advance of the games so no worries about the stadium atmosphere, the fans will be close to the field. The stadium will have commercial zones and 3.000 parking spaces. It is also served by two subway stations and a Renfe rail line (Spain's national rainline with connections throughout the nation).

If all this comes true this is absolutely fantastic news for Atletico and the city of Madrid. The stadium will be nice, the fans close to the action (hopefully) and it will be very accessible to fans since from both the city and from other parts of the nation via the Renfe line.

Here is the video, I don't know if its been posted yet.

http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/...lo/1022061.html

Wow thanks a lot for that translation Andrés, saves me some research

Just one thing, are you sure that the place where el Calderon is, will be named Parque Atlético de Madrid? Cos I thought that would be the name of the park where la Peineta will arise

Wait, i like the Calderon why are people saying it's a shit hole?

Anyway, so what does this mean your playing in that running track stadium next season? and for how long?

Damn, just an hour ago I read something on the tracks, but can't remember the source. There I read that we'll play without tracks until something like 11 months before the Olympics (if they are to take place in Madrid). That would mean we'd play one season with tracks.

I'll post the link if I run into it again, check if it's true

We'll be playing in the Vicente Calderon until 2010 when the redevelopments of La Peineta is complete.

And the place where Vicente Calderon is will be Parque Atleti de Madrid, Derek.

Mundo Deportivo: El nuevo estadio tendrá nombre de patrocinador



Our new stadium will have the name of a sponsor. I really hate those stadiumnames named after a company, and now our Peineta will get such name. On the brightside, we will earn €8 million a year...but that isn't that much for wasting the name of our new stadium

El Pais are reporting that Atletico Madrid's plans to move into La Peineta have run into problems. Apparently the club are going to have to pay 160 million euros up front for the rebuilding work required at the rather battered athletics venue.

The paper reports that this may be a bit of an issue with the club whose debt ranges between 130 and 450 million euros - depending on who you believe - and who made a loss of 103 million euros over the last two seasons.

This comes from Gan, from PACG:

I saw this video on YouTube today - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kSNDj_cJ24

Its the first I've heard about this new stadium for Atletico. It looks very impressive. I was just thinking that the Vicente Calderón was, well a bit of a dump. I don't mean any offence, the stadium is magnificent to look at but its clearly starting to show signs of wear and tear.

Unfortunately I've not yet been there, but even from a distance I feel it's a dump

I kinda like el Calderón, but I won't be too sad when we move. But many true* Rojiblancos will miss the stadium, and they hate our directors for selling it. A lot of sentimental value will be lost.

Just check this video:




*By true I mean fans who have been rojiblancos their entire lifes, been through good and bad times and visit the stadium. I certainly wouldn't call myself a fake-fan though

http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/futbol-p...asdaiftb_79/Tes

http://www.as.com/opinion/articulo/cambio-...asdaiopi_11/Tes

http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/web/gen/200...3488543648.html

http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/calderon...asdasftb_17/Tes

I'm waiting for an official announcement by the club, but it seems that everything is now agreed, Atlético will move out of el Vicente Calderón and to la Peineta. But the change will happen in the summer of 2011, instead of 2010.

Hopefully the club will come with some clear information once everything is confirmed

http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/...lo/1140958.html

Marca: Why not call La Peineta after Spain's most succesful coach: estadio Luis Aragonés



I'm laughing at that now, but it's actually a possibility.

Yeah I saw this, only in Spain.

Let's all get ahead of ourselves!

Aragones has only won the spanish league.......Drum roll please........ONCE!!!!

0 Champions Leagues

0 Uefa Cups

4 Copa del Rey

1 Euro Cup

in 34 years managing. How is that the most successful manager Spain has ever had?

Don't you think its a slap in the face to Atletico that he won the most prestigous trophey for Spain without any Atletico players on the team, therefore Atletico would never name their stadium after him.

You shouldn't forget that Aragonés not only was succesful as our coach, but moreso as a player. He won three La Liga's, two Copa's, the Intercontinental Cup and was crowned Pichichi once, as an Atleti player.

But I wasn't serious about Aragonés being Spain's most succesful coach ever, although, if you only consider the Spanish national team, then he is the most succesful Spanish coach in 44 years.

But naming our new stadium after Aragonés is just an idea, a thing brought up by Marca, and I can't see it happening. Nor do I want to.