Chapter 854 The Strongest Nail House

From Madrid Airport, heading south along the M14 ring road, you will immediately come across a network of overpasses connecting Madrid city and the eastern suburbs.

The highways in four directions, east, south, west and north, are intertwined here to form a spectacular spider web-like scenery.

Under the overpass, a green light rail train coming from the southeast whizzed past.

Next to the overpass, you can see a large construction site to the west. The rumbling sound is endless. From a distance, it looks like a bustling scene. This is quite rare in economically depressed Madrid.

Just after getting off the overpass, enter E5 Road, turn west at the first intersection and enter M201 Road.

This road previously had an official name, Olympic Stadium Road.

On the north side of the road, what is being built in full swing is Atletico Madrid’s new stadium and the surrounding commercial center.

On both sides of the entrance to the new stadium construction site are the Olympic Stadium Station on Madrid's Metro Line 7.

The surrounding area is a residential area with a dense population and convenient transportation.

In addition to buses, the stop of Metro Line 7 is right here at the new stadium. Lines 2, 5 and 9 also pass through the surrounding area. Fans can easily come to the stadium from any corner of Madrid.

After two years, the framework and exterior walls of Atletico Madrid's new stadium have been basically completed. All that remains are interior decoration and a series of other supporting facilities. It is expected to be officially put into use in a year.

Once completed, the new stadium will have a capacity of up to 70,000 people.

If the attendance rate is satisfactory by then, it is not ruled out that a third floor will be added in the future, with a capacity of up to 90,000 or even over 100,000, which will catch up with the Nou Camp and the Bernabeu Stadium.

As soon as Yang Huan got off the car, he looked up and looked at the magnificent new stadium.

The stadium was designed by Norman Foster and Huang Ying. After several consecutive successes, the latter has gradually gained fame in the past one or two years and has become a rising star in the international architectural design industry.

What makes Yang Huan most satisfied is that her designs always have a strong Chinese flavor.

Moreover, it is not the very Chinese and traditional kind, because that would hardly satisfy people in Europe, America and the rest of the world.

Huang Ying's Chinese style is very international and grand.

Therefore, not only Chinese people are satisfied with her designs, but people from Europe and the United States also like her designs very much.

“That decision was the right one!”

Young Master Huan stood outside the gate of the stadium and looked at it for a long time before uttering these words.

Accompanying Young Master Huan were Atletico Madrid CEO Ferran Soriano and the new Miracle Soccer Group CEO Peter Kenyon. They all understood what Young Master Huan meant and nodded continuously.

There were two plans for renovating the stadium at the beginning. One was to proceed according to the original plan, which would reduce a lot of investment and save a lot of time. In fact, if we had followed that plan, we should have moved in by now.

Another solution is to tear it down and start over.

Before, Atletico Madrid was a poor team with no money, so they did whatever they could to save money, and many aspects were not satisfactory.

Master Huan finally chose the second plan, tearing down everything and rebuilding it. Even though this would require a considerable amount of additional funding, it now seems that it is worth it.

If the original plan is followed, the capacity of Atletico Madrid's new stadium would be a maximum of 70,000.

But now, the minimum is 70,000, and at most, with the third floor added, it can even exceed 100,000.

There is no need to worry about Atletico Madrid's attendance. As the most popular team in Madrid, Atletico Madrid's attendance has always been quite ideal, not inferior to its city rivals Real Madrid.

In the past, the attendance rate could basically be maintained at around 85 percent. Now, the team has won the La Liga championship and reached the Champions League final. The results have improved and the attendance rate has steadily increased.

Last season, Atletico Madrid's average attendance was as high as 92 percent, second only to Athletic Bilbao in La Liga.

But in the new season, the team's season ticket sales are very ideal. In the second round of the league home game against Eibar, the Calderon Stadium was packed with an attendance rate of 98%.

The team has a high attendance rate, and a big part of the reason is that Simeone's coaching style is getting better and better.

"The club initially estimated that the attendance rate for this year's league should be able to exceed 95%. We are currently struggling to get tickets for the games, so we are even doubting whether the 70,000-capacity new stadium will be enough."

Yang Huan laughed when he heard this, "Don't be too greedy. You can't get rich overnight. This kind of thing can't be rushed. You should take it step by step and serve these 70,000 people well."

Soriano nodded quickly in agreement, he also knew that this could not be rushed.

If we build the third tier of stands all at once, it will have too large a capacity but not be filled, resulting in a bad home atmosphere, which will affect the fans' viewing experience and thus the team's attendance rate.

Of course, sometimes, the attendance data should not be taken too seriously.

For example, Athletic Bilbao has a high attendance rate, right? No. 1 in La Liga!

But their San Mamés Stadium has a total capacity of only 35,000. Even if the attendance rate is high, how many people can you seat?

In La Liga, apart from the two giants of La Liga, only Atletico Madrid has the courage to build a stadium with a capacity of 70,000 people. Other teams, including Valencia, Sevilla and other teams, cannot do so.

"Let's go in and take a look."

Like most Chinese people, Yang Huan has a very special feeling for real estate.

It’s not that he wants to keep investing in real estate, but he really enjoys the feeling of accomplishment of building iconic buildings in Madrid on a large piece of barren land and attracting tourists from all over the world.

Building a new stadium is actually a very complicated matter. It is not just as simple as the appearance and interior decoration of the stadium. There are many factors to consider.

For example, the simplest one is the seat. The differences and tricks here are quite obvious.

In addition, multimedia systems and intelligent management systems are also standard configurations that modern stadiums must have.

Atletico Madrid contracted all these supporting facilities to professional companies, but the actual operation is still quite troublesome.

Yang Huan was a person who was afraid of trouble, so he just looked around and never got involved.

After a quick tour of the new stadium, Yang Huan went to the commercial plaza in the north.

"By the way, Peter, how were your talks with the ECE Group going?" Yang Huan asked Peter Kenyon.

The commercial center supporting the stadium is now under the unified operation of the group, so Peter Kenyon is naturally responsible for the negotiations with partners.

"The negotiations are going well, but there are still some issues that need to be resolved."

"What's the problem?"

"There is still a big gap between their rent and our desired price."

Yang Huan nodded, "Are there any other options you're considering?"

"Yes, several large shopping mall chains in Europe and around the world are interested in cooperating with us. Some even offer more attractive prices than the ECE Group, but..."

Peter Kenyon said cautiously.

Yang Huan suggested to him to negotiate with ECE, and Peter Kenyon knew very well that the owner of ECE Group was Alexander Otto, the most famous wealthy fan of Hamburg.

Therefore, he was somewhat at a loss during the negotiations, and couldn't figure out what Young Master Huan meant.

"Since there is a more attractive option, we should be more assertive. We are doing business, not trying to make friends. Don't have any other concerns. If Alexander Otto really wants to cooperate with us, he will know what to do!"

"Got it!" Peter Kenyon understood.

In Yang Huan's opinion, it would be great if he could cooperate with Alexander Otto.

But if one has to sacrifice one's own interests for this, it would not be too much of a compromise.

After all, he didn't owe anything when he took over Hamburger, and he didn't need their help. He could handle it on his own.

Therefore, there was no need for him to accommodate Alexander Otto on such matters.

Of course, he also believed that such matters should be handled by people under the Otto family and had nothing to do with Alexander Otto.

Just like Yang Huan, Peter Kenyon was in charge of the whole thing and he didn't interfere at all.

"How is the preparation for attracting investment going?" Yang Huan asked again.

Peter Kenyon nodded. "It's almost done. We plan to hold two investment promotion conferences in Madrid and Milan in October. Many merchants and companies have expressed interest in us. So we believe that there will be no major problems in this regard."

With Southampton’s previous popularity and the United States’ very mature operational precedent in this regard, it is not surprising that many companies and businesses are optimistic about this model.

"By the way, Ferran, what is the response from the Madrid City Government?" Yang Huan turned to look at Soriano.

Soriano immediately replied: "They have agreed, but it will take some time to prepare. After all, there are many residents in the surrounding area. We have been working hard on the project recently, and many residents have reacted strongly. Even many Real Madrid and Getafe fans have collectively accused us of disturbing the residents. It took a lot of effort to suppress it."

Yang Huan laughed out loud when he heard this.

Real Madrid and Getafe are both teams from Madrid, and the other one is Rayo Vallecano.

So, no matter from which angle you look at it, it is impossible for the supporters of these teams not to be dissatisfied with Atletico Madrid, especially when the project is indeed a nuisance to the residents.

Didn’t Manchester City plan to build a new training base before?

As a result, during the land acquisition process, they encountered a very stubborn holdout.

Damn, he’s actually a die-hard Manchester United fan.

According to Mubarak, that bastard is unresponsive to anything you say, no matter how hard you try, he just won't accept it and won't pay any attention to you at all, which has made Manchester City really exhausted.

So, Atletico Madrid’s current situation is pretty good.

“Let’s implement it as soon as possible. The naming rights of these two roads are also very valuable!” Yang said with a smile.

When he decided to build this new stadium and commercial plaza, the Madrid City Government promised that Olympic Stadium Road and the road to the west could be named after Atletico Madrid.

Yang Huan and the business team considered that naming both roads after the stadium's sponsor would greatly enhance the commercial value of the stadium's naming rights and would also be quite attractive.

"Okay, I'll follow up!" Soriano promised.

Yang Huan didn't say anything more.

He has great trust in Soriano and Begiristain, and both of them are very capable. They are both well-known professional managers in European football. One is responsible for operations and the other is responsible for competition. They are considered the best partners.

Before, Mubarak of Manchester City took the initiative to find Yang Huan and begged for a long time, hoping that Yang Huan would let them go to Manchester City.

As a result, Master Huan refused to agree and almost kicked Mubarak out.

The group continued walking in the commercial plaza until Yang Huan's phone rang.

Caller ID, Florentino!

"Haha, this old guy can't wait!"

Yang Huan smiled and shook his head, "Let's go to the Bernabeu!"