TThe Santiago Bernabéu is just days away from the NFL. Historic American football match for Madrid and Spain. This is a very special visit, but it will require a series of adjustments to accommodate a team of more than 50 players, different dimensions, and famous cheerleaders.
The NFL is scheduled to land in Madrid this week for Sunday’s game between the Miami Dolphins and the Washington Commanders at the Santiago Bernabéu. The stadium must be ready for the occasion. The first challenge is to change the pitch dimensions from 105 x 68 meters to 109 x 48.8 meters. To accomplish this, the front rows of the stands will be converted into retractable seats, allowing the stadium to accommodate the meters needed for American sports.
Santiago Bernab is preparing for the NFL
Another major challenge is accommodating around 100 people per team, including players and coaches. The changing room needs to be large enough to accommodate them, so we slightly renovated the shower area of the away changing room. The bench must be able to accommodate far more people than is used on Chamartín’s sideline.
The coaches are separated into the bench and the stands, especially the press box, in order to have a clear view of the players’ tactics. Members of both coaching staffs will have several press seats available so they can analyze the developments from the ‘heights’ of the Bernabéu.
There are also changes to the mixed zone, with the NFL no longer having a shared press room, and each team having a separate press room. This will also need to be adapted by the Bernabéu, with a new location for one of the coaches to be able to attend the press in a separate room, and this requirement will need to be met.
