On the 19th of November last year, Florentino Pérez mentioned at the Bernabéu to local politician, Lucía Figar: “The Bernabéu will be called IPIC or Cepsa, whatever they want”. (These declarations were picked up by a TV company). The president of the club was referring to the sponsorship deal that had just been concluded with Abu Dhabi, via IPIC, a third party investment company and 100% owned by the Emirate.
During a media event held yesterday on the 34th floor of the Cepsa building, directors of the Spanish company (who were bought out by IPIC in 2011) commented that finally the name that will be used in conjunction with Bernabéu is to be Abu Dhabi instead of Cepsa. The idea to use IPIC (International Petroleum Investment Company) was rejected. Abu Dhabi is to finance a percentage of the 500 million euro which will be spent in the remodeling of the new Bernabéu, paying an annual cost of 20 million euro per season to Real Madrid.
While figures were not given the deal was understood to be worth €3m [£2.25] a year until Madrid began work, when IPC would pay €20m a year. Madrid have not said that the stadium will be renamed, although Pérez has admitted that it might be given a “surname”.
Privately, he was more explicit. In mid-November television cameras caught Pérez talking to Lucia Fijar, in charge of the department for Sport and Education in the Madrid regional government following an event organised to present a commercial deal with Microsoft, who had originally been touted as among the candidates to buy naming rights for the stadium. “We’ll call it IPIC Bernabéu or whatever they want … or Cepsa Bernabéu,” Pérez said.
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