Atletico Madrid confirms new stadium date

The Madrid local authority has confirmed the date that Atletico Madrid will abandon the Vicente Calderon Stadium to move to its new ground.

Atletico will begin playing in the proposed new 70,000 seat stadium at the start of the 2012-2013 season, following a vote in the Madrid Town Hall approved the move.

The deal had previously been agreed between Atletico and the local authority in December 2008 when club president Enrique Cerezo and the Mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz Gallardon signed a pact to make the move reality.

The club will now sell the Vicente Calderon for 276 million euros, of which 200 million will be allocated for the construction of the new ground.

That new ground is currently the site of the la 'Peineta' athletics stadium, what would have been the Olympic stadium if Madrid had been chosen as the venue for the 2016 Olympic Games.

However, the new ground will not be known as either la Peineta or the Olympic Stadium: Atletico Madrid plans to sell the stadium name to a sponsor in order to increase revenue at the club.

The good news for the club is that following the city's failure in its bid to host the Olympic Games, the ground will not have an athletics track separating the playing surface from the supporters in the stands.

Source: Xinhua