When Florentino Pérez became the president of Real Madrid, he launched a "master plan" with one goal: To improve the comfort of the Santiago Bernabéu and the quality of its facilities, and maximise revenue for the stadium.




Pérez invested €127 million in five years (2001–2006) by adding an expansion to the east side of the stadium, as well adding a new façade on Father Damien, new costumes, new boxes and VIP areas, a new stage in honour of the east side, a new press area (also located on the east side), a new audio system, new bars, placement of heat in the stands, panoramic lifts, new restaurants, escalators in the towers access, and implementation of the multipurpose building in the street Father Damien.



Following the enlargement of the lateral east side and the creation of new galleries, the capacity of the Santiago Bernabéu is 80,354, all seated.



In 2007, the 1,000th game was played at the Santiago Bernabéu. In addition, the latest revision of UEFA on 27 October 2007, on the occasion of Champions League match against Olympiacos, served as a final step to give the Santiago Bernabéu elite stadium status on 14 November 2007, a month before the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the inauguration of the stadium. UEFA announced that the club will officially rename the Elite stadium.



Pérez proposed construction of a retractable roof before he resigned in 2005. In 2009, following the re-election of Pérez as the club president, it was announced that the roof construction was looking unlikely due to the financial situation of the club. However, according to Spanish sports newspaper Marca, Pérez wants to restructure Santiago Bernabéu. According to the newspaper, the architect in charge will be chosen between a shortlist of Spanish architects Santiago Calatrava and Pritzker Prize-winner Rafael Moneo, and Chinese-American Ieoh Ming Pei, also a Pritzker winner[4].



The stadium was officially announced the venue for the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final in a star studded ceremony in Nyon in 2008.