Villarreal begins development around El Madrigal; stadium will have a sponsor

Villarreal isn't just busy on the transfer front, but is also looking to improve the area around El Madrigal as well as obtain corporate sponsorship for the ground.  Sr. Roig has signed an agreement with the town of Vila-real for the redevelopment of the Llaurador plaza, which is in front of El Madrigal.  The work will involve tearing down an old covered sports facility, the J.B. Llorens pavilion, at one end of the plaza and relocating those facilities elsewhere.  (Llorens was the first Spanish cyclist to compete in America and I believe the new facility that gets built will keep his name).

The plaza will be redeveloped and expanded, there will be some work done on the facade of the stadium as well as entries and exits.  (For those of you who have not been to the ground but have seen our matches on TV, the plaza is behind the Fondo Sur, which is the end stand with the Villarreal USA banner in front of it--not the high stand at the other end with the enclosed away fans area).

Meanwhile, Villarreal supporters' groups have an idea--to put some sort of "yellow submarine" on/in the plaza.  Not a real submarine, but some sort of art installation, perhaps. Maybe covered in tile?

Sr. Roig indicated next year's budget will be in excess of €80m.  This is not surprising given the ~€62m TV money we're picking up, as we have discussed elsewhere.  Villarreal is very dependent on that income since season ticket sales only bring in €3-4 million each year, and while I have not seen financial estimates of such things as shirt sponsorships and other such revenue, I would expect it adds €5-10m at most.  So most all of that €80m+ is coming from TV, and however much of the Europa earnings from last year we want to allocate to this year's budget.

Bottom line?  The TV deal is fairer, so we can't do much to improve that except continue to do well in the league.  Season ticket sales are pretty much maxed out; we'll probably end up with 19,000-20,000 ticket holders again and hope to increase revenues from casual fans who buy tickets on the day, sell more merchandise, etc.  But there is only so much you can do.

So, focusing on ways to bring in more corporate money makes a lot of sense.  We'll never have anything on the order of Madrid or Barcelona, of course, but bringing in more money would be great.  So, Sr. Roig confirmed the stadium will have a sponsor, though the El Madrigal name will be retained in some way.  Whether it will be Pamesa that provides the sponsorship, or a less-related ceramic company, is unclear at this time--as is the terms of the deal.

We have not yet had Joma officially announced as the new kit provider, but I expect that will happen in due course, and should be for more money than the Xtep deal was.

So, on many fronts, Villarreal moves forward.  It is, indeed, cool to be Villarreal.