Photo credit: Josh Sorenson
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition, and Honorary Chair, Quiet American Skies
Real Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium recently received a multi-million dollar update that included a new roof. This is meant to allow for large music events, and brand the stadium as a major entertainment venue. However, with large musical events come loud music, and not surprisingly, nearby residents began complaining about the “unbearable” music. Yes, even a global superstar like Taylor Swift drew complaints about the high decibel level of her concert. Her concert was the first in the stadium by a megastar and attracted large crowds, demonstrating that the stadium could be a major music venue.
Police took decibel readings at the Taylor Swift concert and, and will evaluate those readings to determine if they exceeded the city’s permissible noise level. Residents near the concert had their own experts take measurements of the sound levels and reported that they were in excess of the permitted levels. Interestingly, the city has already fined the stadium for previous concerts that were deemed beyond the permitted sound levels.
Allowing concerts in this refurbished stadium would indeed bring in a great deal of revenue, which would be welcomed by the city. However, we will have to wait and see whether concerts held at Bernabeu Stadium will abide by noise bylaws.
