Now that the Champions League has arrived, Real Betis are changing their look. To mark their return to Europe’s premier club competition, the Andalusians have embarked on an ambitious overhaul, from the way the seats are arranged inside the Benito Villamarín to an even closer relationship with one of the country’s most fervent fanbases. The aim is to build a sustainable growth model capable of narrowing the gap with La Liga’s biggest clubs. The new stadium sits at the centre of it, alongside the international expansion of the brand and a social identity the club regards as a competitive advantage that is difficult to reproduce.
The first signs have come on the pitch, before they have appeared in the accounts. In a pre-season friendly at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, Betis beat Arsenal, English champions and Champions League finalists, 3-1, with goals from Rodrigo Riquelme, Nelson Deossa and Pablo Fornals before half-time. A symbolic win, but also an international showcase that fitted neatly with the club’s direction. As Forbes reported, the stadiums of Real Madrid and Barcelona are expected to generate between €360 million and €400 million a year, while Atlético Madrid’s Metropolitano already brings in more than €300 million annually. The new Betis stadium, once expanded, is expected to generate between €70 million and €80 million, against around €30 million today. Capacity alone does not tell the story. The Benito Villamarín will retain roughly the same number of seats, but their make-up will change dramatically. Premium seating will rise from around 1,200 to almost 6,000, a fivefold increase that should almost triple average revenue per spectator.
Alongside the stadium will be a hotel, commercial spaces, restaurants and food and beverage facilities, expected to generate another €10 million a year. The idea is to keep the site alive throughout the year, bringing in visitors for tours, corporate events and commercial activity rather than restricting its role to the 19 home league games. The Premier League has been moving in this direction for years, with premium spaces and non-matchday events accounting for an increasing share of revenues. Betis are attempting to bring that logic together in one large redevelopment.
Unlike Real Madrid and Barcelona, which remain member-owned, or the many European clubs backed by sovereign wealth funds and private investors, Betis is 55 per cent owned by its supporters. The remaining stake belongs to Seville businessmen Ángel Haro and José Miguel López Catalán. The club therefore has to look primarily to its own commercial growth rather than outside capital to finance the project. The design competition reflected that approach. Thirty proposals from 19 countries were submitted for the new stadium, with the process favouring a collective vision rather than that of a single investor. Seville is already one of Spain’s most visited cities. Betis want to turn some of that tourist traffic into year-round visitors to the Villamarín, making it “a symbol of the city and a must-see for anyone coming to Seville”.
The base at home is substantial. In Seville, support is almost evenly split with Sevilla, but across Spain Betis account for around 3.2 per cent of football fans, against 1.1 per cent for their city rivals. Government statistics place Betis sixth among the country’s most-followed clubs, helped by the spread of the Andalusian community across Spain. Average attendance at the Benito Villamarín is already above 45,000, while television audiences put Betis third in La Liga. The tours of the United States and friendlies such as the Arsenal game are less about immediate revenue than strengthening the brand in markets that could eventually produce new stadium visitors, international sponsors and members abroad. Real Madrid and Barcelona operate on another scale, their global reach long since detached from the stadium itself. For Betis, the two are still closely connected. International visibility can lead people back to a physical place that generates revenue.
The social side runs through it as well. Forever Green, the sustainability programme launched in 2020, is built around five areas: mobility, climate change, nature protection, club sustainability and recycling. In 2019, Betis became the first football club to join the United Nations’ Climate Neutral Now initiative. The project now involves more than 130 initiatives and around 80 organisations, including Manchester United and Roma. The new away shirt, dedicated to young supporter Sandra Peña, whose death was linked to incidents of bullying, is another example of the club using its visibility for issues beyond football. According to the president, this identity is one of the things that most clearly sets Betis apart from Spain’s biggest clubs. Real Madrid and Barcelona have little commercial space left to conquer. Betis can offer partners something else: a brand tied to social values that are much harder to copy.
The ambition is not to turn Betis into a smaller Real Madrid or Barcelona. It is to make more of what is already there: a stadium designed to raise the value of each seat rather than simply increase capacity, an international strategy tied to the new ground, growth financed largely through the club’s own resources, and a social identity that can work commercially too. Some of it cannot be copied. Seville’s pull as a tourist destination. The strength of Andalusian identity. Majority supporter ownership. A fanbase deeply invested in the values the club promotes. For now, the Champions League has put the sporting and commercial sides of the project on the same track. The rest will be played out at the Villamarín.