NFL game in Madrid will require locker room demolition at the Bernabéu
As part of the NFL’s international series, a 2025 game will be played in Spain for the first time. But it will require some serious stadium adjustments
In 2025, the NFL will play its first regular season game in Spain. The Miami Dolphins will host a game at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain’s capital city. The game is part of the league’s international series and is one of eight games to be played in other countries this year.
🏈 ¡LA @NFL LLEGA AL BERNABÉU! 🏟️@MundoNFL | #NFLMadridGame pic.twitter.com/EaIpGHxdNt
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) February 9, 2024
The Bernabéu’s drastic transformations for the NFL game
The Santiago Bernabéu is home to LaLiga’s Real Madrid soccer team, and although the stadium recently underwent some massive renovations, it will still have to undergo even more transformations in order to host the NFL game. Of those, the locker rooms will have to be completely demolished and rebuilt in order to fit the NFL teams.
While LaLiga squads are made up of 25 players, the NFL’s are made up of 53, plus their 16-man practice squad. So they require quite a bit more space, even if not all players travel with the team. They’ll also need better-equipped facilities to accommodate the large quantity of players. When the game is over, the changing rooms will be reconstructed again.
💥 INFORMA @miguelitocope
— Tiempo de Juego (@tjcope) February 23, 2025
🏟️ El Real Madrid deberá derribar los actuales vestuarios para acoger el partido de NFL que se disputará en el Bernabéu cuando llegue la fecha
💺 Tras el partido de la NFL volverán a construir los vestuarios pic.twitter.com/ubFhGMzql5
Along with that, the stadium will also have to adapt the field itself, removing rows of seats at the back to meet the required measurements for American football, whose fields are typically much larger and narrower than those in Europe.
Although the transformations will be costly, Real Madrid welcomes them, as they already had a vision for the stadium to be a versatile, multi-functional space that has the ability to host not just soccer games, but other sports, concerts, and large-scale events.
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