The Metropolitan changed its name again after a brief period to Civitas. Atlético de Madrid has just signed an agreement by which the stadium will be renamed Riyadh Air Metropolitano with immediate effect and the relationship will last until 2033. We will see if, on this occasion, the contract will be fulfilled after the previous ones. did not meet initial expectations, making the Rojiblanco Coliseum the most hackneyed from Spain. Three names in seven years is too many for a football club.
It all started when the club decided to move to the old La Peineta stadium for the start of the 2017/18 season, renaming it the Metropolitan Stadium in honor of what was the home of Atlético de Madrid from 1923 to 1966. The name, however, This did not last long after the entity entered into an agreement with the Chinese company Wanda.
The Asians immediately became owners of the naming of rights of the stadium appellant Wanda Metropolitano paying 9.5 million per year until 2022 and also enter into shareholding. The deal lasted a year after the company unilaterally severed relations with Atlético, leaving them with a significant financial loss. Wanda sold 17% of her shares in the red and white club to the Israeli fund Quantum Pacific Group for 50 million euros.
Atlético spent a lot of time looking for someone to pay for the Metropolitano’s name. Finally, it concerns the real estate company Cívitas, with which the main shareholder Miguel Ángel Gil Marín maintains a notorious friendship.who decided in 2022 to sign an agreement to name the stadium rojiblanco. The club has found some oxygen after a very difficult economic pandemic.
They signed an agreement for 10 seasons which provided that Atlético would receive a total of 85 million for the appellation and at the same time, the pact could be broken if a company arrived with more money, as was the case with Riyadh Air. The club announced that money in Saudi petrodollars would curiously be paid to them on the same day the League signed another major deal with the country.
A sponsor who has not yet flown
So things are, Saudi Arabia made a succulent offer of 250 million for the appellation of the stadium and the front of shirts for the next decade in exchange for making the young Riyadh Air known. The company has yet to see any of its planes fly in its 18 months of existence and he wants to use Atlético de Madrid as a launching pad to make himself known around the world.
We will see if this time the red and white team made the right choice regarding their traveling companion. In 2017, no one could have predicted that Wanda would go bankrupt almost a year later.whereas in a Saudi product it seems difficult to run out of money. However, given the history of the Metropolitano and the difficulty of finding a sponsor that meets its expectations, we cannot exclude that This journey between the red and white club and the airline risks experiencing unexpected turbulence.
