In keeping with the maxim that every failure is at the same time an opportunity, Atlético de Madrid took advantage of Madrid’s failed attempts to host the Olympic Games to exploit 205,000 square meters of pitches, much of which was initially intended for the major sporting event that takes place every four years. With the precious connivance of the Town Hall, led by the famous colchonero José Luis Martínez-Almeida, a transfer of municipal land 75 years ago favors this extension of the facilities around the Metropolitano (originally, when it was still known as La Peineta, designed as an Olympic stadium).
Named Sports City, although later details indicate an activity based more on dining and leisure shopping with sporting activities relegated to the background, the project is a fundamental part of the billion-dollar sale of the club which occurred a few weeks ago. The land in the San Blas district will house a high-performance center, paddle tennis courts, an artificial wave pool, a parking lot, a shopping center (although in principle it would be a hotel) and even a golf course (also not planned in the original design).
The work that will benefit the City Hall and the citizens of Madrid, for road access and municipal facilities (an athletics track, a handful of football fields and indoor sports fields), will cost 53.5 million euros. A quarter of the price of those that will take place in the privatized lands over the next 75 years, which Atlético will exploit commercially, which will reach 200.3 million euros of investment.
Encouraged by the possibilities of profiting from the buildings erected on these hundreds of thousands of square meters, the American fund Apollo Global Management (a giant of physical investment) became the majority shareholder of the club after acquiring 55% of the shares. The owners since the irregular appropriation of the sports corporation in 1992, Miguel Ángel Gil Marín and Enrique Cerezo, will respectively retain a package and their functions of CEO and president. Atlético is valued at 2.5 billion euros, according to the newspaper Expansión. By purchasing 55% of the shares, Apollo will contribute around 1.3 billion euros as majority partner.
In addition to the sporting successes since the arrival of Diego Pablo Simeone in 2011, the economic possibilities offered by real estate expansion are the main explanation for Apollo’s offer. This is what Jesús Martínez, the lawyer for Signs of Smoke (the most critical association of red and white supporters on the board), explained to Somos Madrid: “Beyond the attractiveness of the club, the Sports City and the project of the former Olympic Aquatic Center are the main reason why Apollo was interested in Atleti. both sources “Revenues will be fundamental, so investments in sports will increase.”
Almeida himself, such a colchonero (despite his good understanding with Florentino Pérez) that he even mentioned the possibility of naming his son Julián in honor of the team’s striker, described the incorporation of Apollo as majority shareholder of Atlético de Madrid as a “leap of quality”. He also denied that the sale had any influence or could call into question the allocation of the land to the club. In fact, this operation promotes sales. “I think it is an investment bet for the city of Madrid and an important bet,” said the mayor upon hearing news that he described as “good,” because it will attract “more investments” and “generate wealth.” The councilor even gave Atleti the name of four streets in the developing area, one of them with the controversial nomenclature with Francoist connotations Atlético Aviación.
Atleti finds spring in desert with aquatics center down
Jesús Martínez spoke of another Olympic disaster from which Atleti will benefit, that of the Aquatic Center. This unfinished City Hall project led by Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón involved an expenditure of at least 99.6 million euros for a useless structure, which still had 91 million euros of investment to pay when its work was abandoned in 2010. The intention was to host swimming, diving and water polo competitions, with a capacity of up to 18,000 spectators. It was part of the Spanish capital’s Olympic dream until it suffered three defeats in the bids in 2012, 2016 and 2020. The venue was abandoned when it was found that its construction companies (Ortiz and Dragados) had miscalculated the final cost, which came to 136.7 million euros and ended up rising to 191.5.
The mattress entity’s plans for this space have not been revealed in detail, apart from the fact that the club showed its supporters a few months ago images of an initiative known as Madrid Music District. Nor the contribution to the city in exchange for a transfer which will also last 75 years. But this newspaper has already been able to consult certain details of the concession to build what the Town Hall defines as a “multifunctional complex”.
The objective is to erect a 4-star hotel with 250 rooms, a “multipurpose cultural space” with a capacity of 1,200 people, a training center of 19,600 square meters for university studies or professional training, an underground parking lot for 1,100 vehicles, a sports center of 11,000 square meters for 9,000 subscribers and the jewel in the crown: a pavilion of 37,500 square meters with a capacity for 20,000 spectators. This would tie Valencia’s Juan Roig as the one with the highest capacity in Spain, although the Palacio de los Deportes has already announced that it is considering increasing its capacity to 20,008.
The expected turnover for the entire complex for the year 2060 is 200 million euros, which will reach 445 million when it expires in 2100. “The concession will complete the consolidation of the entire area, the successful bidder being the one who will assume the economic risk of management and pay Madrid City Hall an annual fee during its validity period of 75 years,” report municipal sources. After a grace period without fees which will last five years, this will be 306,000 euros per year from the 6th to the 25th; 826,000 from 26 to 50 and 1,493,586 from 51 to 75. Profits for Atleti will be 95 million before taxes.
From the Works and Facilities sector of the Government of Cibeles, they argue that the allocation “will join the future Sports City that Atlético de Madrid is building in the area, which as a whole will make it possible to complete the urban fabric of the San Blas-Canillejas neighborhood, enhancing a space that has until now been underused.”
The City of Sports in which sport is declining and commercial uses are developing
In this Ciudad del Deporta, now less sporty, there is another of the great novelties introduced some time after the initial announcement: the launch of a shopping center on one of the main ceded plots. In 2024, the red and white club asked the Town Hall to open “large areas” of the “commerce and restaurant” type on the DS-04 plot, classified for sports use, where the construction of a mini-stadium for 6,000 spectators and 25 paddle tennis courts was planned. According to documents to which this newspaper has had access, Atlético assures that these commercial facilities “will generate daily public access that will provide a continuous view of this area”, which it wants to transform into a “center of attraction” not only for the neighborhood in which it is located, but also for the citizens “of the Community of Madrid”.
This new shopping center will also extend onto the DS-05 plot, already designed in principle to accommodate complementary and associated uses authorized in the planning (commercial and hotel): “The specifications provide for the construction of a real estate complex made up of commercial uses and a hotel, so one has not been modified or replaced by the other, since in the aforementioned plot there will be a shopping center and a sports hotel residence,” they say from the Consistory. According to the Wit Retail portal, the commercial space will have an area of approximately 40,000 square meters spread over four different floors, in addition to 1,500 parking spaces. It will have 70 different clothing, food, fashion, leisure and service stores.
In the area of Works, they also advance the time horizons that the Town Hall manages for this work: “The general deadline for the Cité des Sports is autumn 2027, even if the completion of the work on the two plots not subject to concession and which will house the municipal sports facilities is expected for spring-summer 2026.” If these dates are respected, the metropolitan area will present a radically different appearance in less than two years and Apollo will begin to making profitable an investment that the Almeida team placed on a silver platter. All this at the cost of losing public land and further distancing, if possible, from the Olympic illusion in the city.
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