madrid for barcelona and real madrid the coronavirus pandemic has affected more than their games and player salaries it has also taken a toll on their stadium renovation plansboth spanish soccer clubs are working on hefty renovation projects for their famed venues with construction already underway at the santiago bernabeu stadium and barcelona close to start work at the camp noumost of the construction work at both stadiums was planned for the offseason which this year could be filled with rescheduled games to make up for the current stoppage in competitions across europethe outbreak has significantly affected club revenue and forced both to cut costs including player salaries the teams have lost income from ticket sales merchandising and several other means while games cant be played and spain remains in lockdownbarcelona said this week it was working on overcoming the final bureaucracy hurdles to start construction work on the stadium when the outbreak started putting everything on hold the club had been finalizing the financing plan that would go before its members in a referendumthe arrival of the coronavirus crisis forced it to be put on hold until the pandemic has passed and the world returns to normal the club said without a calendar for the end of the crisis it is impossible to know or predict up to what point it will affect the construction processbarcelona said those in charge of the stadiums renovation project remained working and making progress and looking at the possible effects of covid19 to minimize delayswork on urban redevelopment areas and smaller venues around the camp nou had already started before the pandemicthe camp nou will have a new roof covering all seating sections and its sitting capacity will increase from 99000 to 105000 the cost of the project was initially estimated at nearly 500 million euros 540 million work was expected to be concluded by 202122 but both the completion date and the estimated cost have already changed a few timeswork at the bernabeu in madrid began last august and had continued during the season between matches it went on even after the country was put in lockdown in midmarch coming to a halt only after the spanish government said nonessential industries also had to stopwork was halted for about 15 days but construction resumed this week after the government loosened some of the lockdown measures allowing some nonessential activities to resumethere were talks madrid could play some of its rescheduled matches away from the bernabeu so construction could continue during the summer but the club is expected to maintain the same operation as before with the renovation work taking place between matchesthe bernabeu will gain a retractable roof and a revamped facade to modernize its appearance it will also have a 360degree video screen and a new seating section though its capacity is expected to remain at about 80000 the area around the venue also will be renovatedthe club this week posted a video of the newlook stadium on twittermadrid has