Chapter 717 Success can be replicated
~Knock~Knock
"Come in!"
Following an old voice's response from inside, Real Madrid General Manager Sanchez pushed open the door of the chairman's office and walked in.
"Mr. Perez, you're looking for me?"
Florentino, who was sitting behind the desk, raised his head slightly. He seemed to be writing something. He pointed to the chair in front of the desk with the hand holding the pen and said, "Sit!" Then he went back to writing.
Sanchez hummed, walked over, gently pulled out a chair and sat down.
On the desk in front of him was a freshly published newspaper this morning, the mouthpiece of Real Madrid, AS.
But the front-page headlines had nothing to do with Real Madrid, but with Southampton, far away in England.
As a subordinate, Sanchez was able to experience both the Calderón and Florentino dynasties, and his position continued to rise. A big part of the reason was that in addition to being able to get things done, he was also very good at observing people's words and expressions.
At least, he realized early on that Calderon had no chance of taking charge of Real Madrid, so he placed his bets on Florentino early on, and even made an effort to help the latter return to the presidency of Real Madrid.
Now, he could certainly see that the Chairman wanted him to read the newspaper first.
It would have been fine if he hadn't looked at it, but when he did, he was shocked.
Southampton is actually going to adopt a free ticket policy?
How is this possible?
Could it be that Yang Huan is crazy?
According to Southampton's attendance, the enthusiasm of Saints fans and the capacity of the new stadium, the revenue from a single game is at least three to five million pounds, which means tens of millions or even over a hundred million pounds a year.
Free tickets?
Only a fool would do this!
But Sanchez soon realized the problem, which was the points system.
"How is it? Did you figure out anything?" Florentino raised his head, gently capped the pen in his hand, gently placed it on the table in front of him, clasped his hands, and looked at Sanchez opposite him.
Sanchez was a business development talent introduced to Real Madrid by Florentino during the first phase of the Galacticos. He was highly valued by Florentino. In 2006, after Florentino stepped down and Calderon took office, Sanchez continued to be valued because of his achievements in business.
There is no way. Calderon is a coward and has no talent in this area under his command, so he can only continue to use Sanchez.
This gave Sanchez the opportunity to help Florentino return to the Bernabeu three years later.
So, after just a little thought, Sanchez understood what Florentino meant.
"This is a very good idea. Fans usually want to eat, shop and entertain themselves, but they may not be willing to spend money in stores such as Harrods, Pizza Hut, KFC and Wangjiangge. Therefore, Southampton uses this method to attract these potential customers and achieve a win-win situation for fans, clubs and businesses."
Florentino nodded as he listened, "Well, continue."
"But this is just at the design level. At first glance, it seems very feasible, but in actual operation, there will probably be quite a lot of difficulties and problems in the specific situation. After all, it involves too many things."
Florentino nodded again.
"However, Yang Huan is indeed amazing, and he has many talented people under him. He was able to come up with such an idea. If he succeeds, he will turn Southampton into a large platform that connects various social resources."
Hearing this, Florentino nodded again and said, "Since he proposed this idea and formulated such a system, this plan itself has been more than half successful. As for what you mentioned, they are all minor problems!"
"Yes!" Sanchez also understood, "As long as Southampton is determined to push forward, as long as the merchants have not lost confidence in Southampton, as long as there are still fans who want to watch Southampton's games, then this plan will definitely succeed!"
Florentino sighed deeply, stood up from his seat, and looked quite sad.
"Yang Huan is indeed a talented person. When he proposed free tickets, everyone thought he was a fool. But now, you see, he has already done it and is about to put it into practice. I am really a little worried!"
"Worried?" Sanchez was a little confused.
Southampton is far away in the UK and has nothing to do with Real Madrid. What is the chairman worried about?
"Professional football has always been a rather distorted existence. You say it is closed, but its every move attracts the attention of countless fans around the world. But if you say it is open, it still stubbornly sticks to its own traditional circle on many levels, such as so-called tradition, so-called loyalty, and so-called emotionality!"
In the eyes of Florentino as a businessman, these are stumbling blocks that seriously hinder the development of professional clubs.
It's just like a family-managed business, with a group of laymen leading a group of experts. It's totally informal!
"In my opinion, the rapid development of professional football over the past decade seems more like a passive process of accepting the baptism and repeated transformation from various social resources, rather than an active and positive self-transformation!"
"But the emergence of Yang Huan and Southampton broke this situation from the very beginning. His active pursuit of change and drastic reforms time and time again amazed and enlightened people. And every change he made was enough to make the professional football world think deeply and again!"
Sanchez knew that Florentino had long admired Yang Huan.
After their first one-on-one conversation, Florentino came back and praised Yang Huan highly, saying that he saw many young people's qualities and many new ideas in Yang Huan.
Now it seems that the Chairman’s vision was really accurate!
"What I am worried about is that if Southampton fails, that's fine, but if it succeeds, will Atletico Madrid's new stadium in the east of Madrid and the surrounding commercial city become the second artificial island of Southampton?"
When Sanchez heard this, he almost lost his voice.
Yes, theoretically, this kind of success can be replicated.
If Atletico Madrid follows suit and does the same, their revenue will definitely skyrocket.
According to AS's initial estimates, based on Southampton's points plan and information obtained by reporters from some businesses, although tickets for Southampton's new stadium will be free, the team will receive at least 200 million pounds in rental income from all businesses on the artificial island each year.
If we also include the fees for a series of other supporting services provided by the team to merchants, the estimated amount will be 300 million pounds.
In other words, Southampton will earn more by offering free tickets than by charging for them.
If sponsorship fees and broadcasting fees are taken into account, Southampton's revenue will catch up with European giants such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
And this is just the beginning. With the operation and accumulation of the entire model, the future development potential is quite amazing.
Just imagine, if Southampton can do it, what about Atletico Madrid?
If the Colchoneros can do the same, their income will skyrocket. It doesn't have to be much, just double the current 100 million to over 300 million. Then Atletico Madrid will firmly become the third pole in the La Liga.
"The plan to renovate the Bernabeu Stadium must be started immediately!" Florentino also attaches great importance to this.
Sanchez nodded and said, "I have asked someone to estimate it. If the new stadium is renovated, it is expected to increase our financial revenue by about 200 million euros on the existing basis!"
Florentino nodded, he was also quite optimistic about this.
"Mr. Perez!" Sanchez suddenly had a question. "Southampton's approach is actually to imitate the approach of Madison Square Garden in New York, developing the commercial resources around the stadium to the extreme, and turning the stadium into a commercial center through supporting facilities such as hotels and restaurants. There are various commercial forms around it, providing great convenience for fans."
"We can turn this passageway for fans into a huge commercial corridor, so that fans can arrive earlier or leave later, even on non-match days, without any problems, instead of the traditional business model that is common in European stadiums, where fans come before the game and leave after the game."
Florentino listened, smiled and nodded, "Well said, Sanchez, you are absolutely right."
Sanchez nodded politely, "Then can we do the same? The contract for the commercial corner of the Bernabeu is about to expire. With the extra piece of land, although we are not as good as Southampton, we can definitely turn the Bernabeu into a commercial center like them, because our geographical location is the most unique advantage!"
The Bernabeu Stadium is located in the city center of Madrid. If the Bernabeu Stadium can be turned into a commercial center, it will be a money-making machine!
Florentino listened, shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I know what you are thinking. This is indeed quite tempting, but you should know how great the interests involved are. This is not easy."
After hearing this, Sanchez looked a little depressed because he understood.
As a giant among giants, Real Madrid is by no means as monolithic as the outside world sees, nor is it a one-man show by Florentino. On the contrary, Real Madrid is full of factions, intrigues and exchanges of interests.
For example, there have been many injuries in Real Madrid recently, and many people say that there are problems with the medical department. Some players even simply don’t trust the team doctors. Why can’t the club fire the team doctors and can only downplay the issue?
Because this team of doctors was recommended by a board member, and Florentino, as the chairman, needs to be responsible to these 18 board members, and all decisions need their approval, so there is an exchange of interests involved here.
There are eighteen members on the board. You recommended the team doctor, I recommended the lawyer, and he recommended the public relations person.
Many people even participate in and intervene in the transfer of players.
It can almost be said that factions have long been prevalent within the management.
Why was it so chaotic when Calderon was in charge of Real Madrid?
Even if he is a bastard and Mijatovic is also a bastard, can these two bastards mess up Real Madrid like this?
This is overestimating them both.
The most important and core reason is that Calderon and Mijatovic cannot control the people on the board of directors!
Aren't there examples like Calderon?
Isn't it the same reason why Barcelona's former president Gaspart, who was the best vice president in the club's history, became the worst president in the club's history and brought the darkest years to Barcelona?
Even someone as strong as Florentino can only barely hold on to the situation. He has to compromise and exchange interests everywhere in order to achieve a relatively stable management situation.
"You need to make full preparations for this matter. I will bring it up at the board meeting when the time is right."
Sanchez listened and nodded, "Okay, I know what to do."
"It's already February, there's something very important that you need to do as soon as possible!"
After hearing this, Sanchez's face suddenly became solemn. "Mr. Perez, if you have any questions, just tell me. I will do my best to handle it!"