Madrid Court Rules Real Madrid Not Liable for Bernabéu Noise Violations; Promoters Responsible

A Madrid court ruled on May 13 that Real Madrid soccer club, owners and operators of the Bernabéu stadium in the Spanish capital, aren’t liable for breaches of the legal noise limit during the stadium’s opening concert season 2024. At the same time, the judge said it was the promoters who should be responsible for making sure a concert adheres to the legal limits. A breakdown of events:

When the brand new Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, after its five-year renovation that began in 2019, opened for concerts in 2024, it became clear that the building’s soundproofing was insufficient to keep noise pollution below the legal limits.

See: Huge Chunk Of Business Lost As Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Postpones All Concerts

Back then the Asociacion de Perjudicados por el Bernabeu, a neighborhood association of residents living in the stadium’s vicinity, filed a complaint, citing among other things a health risk posed by the noise pollution, which went to court.

As a reslult Real Madrid soccer club, owners of the stadium, were forced to postpone all scheduled concerts.

By that point, Taylor Swift, Karol G, as well as Spanish superstars Manuel Carrasco and Luis Miguel had already performed in the new stadium. Atiana or Lola Índigo, also scheduled for the opening season, were among those that had to postpone their concerts.

The neighborhood association had a real case. A source on the ground in Madrid involved in the staging of one of the aforementioned concerts, told Pollstar in 2024 that the noise outside the stadium had been consistently loud on concert nights, even before the main shows with the fully amplified sound started, suggesting it would be somewhat of a miracle if the club found a way to reduce noise levels to below the legal mandate.

The club vowed to improve the sound proofing of the Bernabéu, by completing additional works on the building until 2026.

Now, the so-called Third Section of the Provincial Court of Madrid, has cleared the club, represented by its general director and board member José Ángel Sánchez Periáñez, of all charges brought to court by the neighborhood association.

The court “clearly and categorically concludes that neither José Ángel Sánchez Periáñez, the club’s general director and member of its Board of Directors, nor Real Madrid Estadio S. L. are responsible for any criminal offense in relation to the concerts held at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium,” Real Madrid posted on its website yesterday, May 13, adding that the court agreed to the unconditional dismissal of the proceedings against the club and stadium, “thereby definitively ending the criminal process.”

According to the club, the court also found “that the responsibility for ensuring compliance with the decibel limits for ambient sound transmission, as stipulated by the Municipal Ordinance on Protection against Acoustic and Thermal Pollution of February 25, 2011, lies with the promoter companies leasing the stadium, as they are the ones who promote, organize, develop, and execute each event.”

The court also found that a violation of a general administrative provision for environmental protection does not, in itself, warrant the intervention of criminal law.

Contrary to some news reports, it’s not like the court has now simply replaced the club with the promoters of the concerts as defendants. The Spanish promoters association APM still expressed its concern about the impact that the Provincial Court’s ruling on concerts at the Bernabéu Stadium may have on the live music industry.

The association highlights the legal uncertainty that such situations can create for those who promote and organize large-scale concerts and music events, pointing out that promoters bore the financial, operational, and reputational risks when organizing large-scale events.

APM states that no music promoter would organize a show of this magnitude without ensuring that every concert is delivered to the highest standard for artists, audiences, and the cities hosting these events.

It’s never explicitly stated, but given the fact that stadium concerts are so popular right now, there’s ample evidence from around the world, including other stadiums in Spain, that shows get delivered the way they should all of the time.

What is more, Real Madrid is currently working on improving the stadium’s sound-proofing, which suggests that it has been insufficient indeed.

APM also emphasizes any resident’s right to peace and quiet, and the importance of finding solutions that allow cultural activities and those living around the sites where these activities are realized, to coexist.

“Dialogue, planning, and collaboration among all stakeholders must form the foundation for moving toward sustainable and balanced models,” the promoters association states.

There’s a lot of business at stake, of course. Karol G, for example, who performed four times at the Bernabéu, July 20-23, 2024, sold a total 219,943 tickets and grossed $23,602,998 across all four shows, according to the box office reports submitted by Live Nation.

That same month, Luis Miguel sold 89,185 tickets across two shows, July 6-7, grossing $13,824,966, promoted Iglesias Entertainment, Cárdenas Marketing Network (CMN), and Fenix Entertainment Group.

Aitana, who had to postpone due to the legal dispute between the Bernabéu and Madrid’s residents, moved her shows to the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, stadium of rival soccer club Atlético de Madrid, promoted by GTS Live. Both concerts, July 30-31, 2025, sold out 102,700 tickets, grossing $6,584,456,

Lola Índigo also moved her show to the Metropolitano, June 14, 2025, moving 53,878 tickets at a $3,253,827, also a GTS Live show.

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_Originally reported by [Pollstar](https://news.pollstar.com/2026/05/14/bernabeu-court-ruling-in-madrid-places-promoters-in-the-spotlight/)._