REAL MADRID president Florentino Perez reportedly wanted to move the team to a Disneyland-style theme park.
Perez first came up with the idea in 2004 but started to draw up plans for the project in 2017.
According to a new book titled ‘Messi vs Ronaldo’, as reported by the Independent, Perez was keen to maintain Real’s position as the top club in the world amid the emergence of state-owned clubs Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
There were also rising costs with Real Madrid’s wage bill increasing by 32 per cent in 2017 alone.
Perez’s concept of a RealMadridLand sought to reinvent the club by moving away from the Bernabeu into a new complex that would include a new stadium, training ground and of course, rollercoasters.
Disney executives were consulted and sketches were drawn up for rollercoasters based on famous club goals, such as Zinedine Zidane’s volley to win the 2002 Champions League final.
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Michael Eisner, Disney CEO and owner of Portsmouth, worked with Perez but raised concerns over funding and the fact the training ground would be visible to rivals.
The £1.2billion Perez sourced was deemed far too short of the £2.1bn required, with the Real president also unable to find a plot of land big enough to house the complex, which was also set to include hotels and conference centres.
As well as the amusement park and new stadium, the training ground was planned to accommodate Real Madrid teams from the under sevens up.
It was all part of Perez’s dream to maintain the club’s place at the top of the football pyramid, with the Spaniard also viewing the project as a “financial necessity”.
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In a meeting with Disney bosses Perez is reported to have said: “In our world, we are as big as Disney.
“Real Madrid must do things like this because we are the number-one club, and the only way we will remain there is by always being the first big innovator.”
The Disney executives, including Eisner, spent three months examining the plans before returning to Perez with a list of concerns, and the idea was scrapped.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
