sport news Real Madrid's VIP nightclub, Tottenham's microbrewery - and a high-tech ground ... trends now

Thought going to a football ground to take in a match was the beginning and the end of it? Think again. 

Gone are the days where the hospitality highlight a fan might expect is a pie and a pint. Instead, clubs are increasingly keen to make the match-going experience a more luxurious one, replete with luxury surroundings and a wealth of different activities - often with a price tag to match. 

With a number of top teams looking to upgrade their stadiums to ensure the maxiumum possible profit, the designs and features of new grounds grow ever more imaginative. 

But some of the upgrades - consider Tottenham's ill-fated cheese room - have appeared a world away from the traditional matchday experience. 

Here, Mail Sport looks at some of the wackiest upgrades and design features in football stadia across the world.

Spurs' microbrewery and the ill-fated cheese room

Designed by starchitects Populous - who are at the helm of a number of these extravagant projects, including Fulham's - Tottenham's £1billion Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is one of the few stadiums on this list that has actually opened, and to much success.

Regularly hosting sold-out gigs and sporting events such as heavyweight fights and NFL games has made the club's ground immensely profitable, as have matchday takings. Spurs are thought to earn more money than any other Premier League side on matchday too, with an estimated £4.8m being spent on food, drink, programmes, and merchandise. 

The contemporary, state-of-the-art facilities play a large role in this, but none is more unique than their Beavertown microbrewery, the first on-site microbrewery of its kind. 

But some innovations were considered a hair too radical. In 2017 at a preview presentation on the stadium, a VIP cheese room was discussed with fans able to 'select their own specially sourced half-time cheeses'. Amid mass derision when the club missed their first opening deadline, the club later denied that there had ever been plans for one. Something about this stinks. 

Party like a Real player at the new-look Bernabeu 

Real Madrid are revamping the Santiago Bernabeu to the tune of £860million, and when it comes to ensuring their fans have a good time at the ground, it appears no expense has been spared. 

The new 85,000 stadium not only features a retractable roof and 360-degree screen to ensure not one minute of Jude Bellingham and Co's brilliance is missed, but in the final piece of the near-£1bn puzzle, a private nightclub. 

Part of the ground's SkyBar VIP suite built to accomodate up to 200 guests, the box will not only give ultra-deep pocketed fans the best possible seat in the house for matches, but allow them to dance the night away to DJ sets after the final whistle.  

With the deadline of a Taylor Swift concert in May to consider, the official unveiling of the finished ground is planned for later this spring.