The Sun-Herald

Recession? What Recession?

80,000 Spaniards can't be wrong. Can they?

There are many things to do in Madrid in summer.

You could see some art at the Prado or Reina Sofia museums.

Stroll through a beautiful park like the Retiro.

Explore the streets and shops behind the Puerta Del Sol.

Have your wallet stolen at the Rastro flea market.

Enjoy early evening wine and tapas at one of the bars around Plaza Santa Ana or maybe a late dinner at an old-school, white table cloth, restaurant behind the Plaza Mayor.

All perfect ways to spend time in a grand city.

Some locals have other ideas, however.

In fact, on an evening last week, 80,000 of them turned up at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, itself something of a tourist attraction, to watch the official introduction of the former Manchester United player Cristiano Ronaldo to the team.

Count that out again - 80,000 people.

All there to watch and listen as Ronaldo, dressed in his Real Madrid strip, said nothing much of interest beyond the predictable platitudes to anything and everyone associated with the free-spending Spanish club that now pays his astronomical salary.

Real Madrid gave Manchester United around $300 million to acquire Ronaldo's contract, cash that no right-thinking company (key word) would turn down for any of its assets.

Ronaldo, ever immodest, told the masses that he thought Madrid's excess was appropriate.

"I'm happy to be the most expensive player in the world and I'm going to prove that they did the right thing to pay good money for me," he announced at a press conference after his introduction to fans.

Apparently, there is something of an economic crisis enveloping the planet but it obviously hasn't hit Madrid, or the higher echelons of football just yet.

By the beginning of July, Real Madrid had spent close to $500 million (that's Australian dollars) on transfer fees alone in its 2009 recruiting drive. That money, distributed between other rich clubs like Manchester United, Milan, and Lyon for their talented players, is funded mostly by bank and building society loans.

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez believes the investment to be worth it and has convinced the banks that the club will recoup the money through replica shirt sales and marketing.

There you have it: the President of one of the world's "richest" clubs has revealed his business is actually the rag trade rather than football.

But with 80,000 people turning up on a balmy summer night to see nothing much, it's possible Perez is smarter than most of us.

Footballers now have more reach globally than most other live public figures.

A conference in London last week, that attracted former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and film director David Puttnam as speakers, discussed exactly that.

"Most world leaders I have met enjoy something about sport, and some even play," Blair said at the Beyond Sport talkfest. "But I think over the years it has become of a different magnitude, and we are only just beginning to understand the utility of sports."

Blair told a story about visiting a Japanese classroom where the word "Beckham" provided the kids a clue as to who Blair was.

Puttnam, the director of films Chariots of Fire and The Killing Fields, thinks sport is the new global power.

"There is no movie star in the world who could get thousands of people to wait six hours just to see their arrival, as Cristiano Ronaldo did this week," Puttnam said. "The whole level of globalization of sports is bigger."