Camp Nou to be Renamed after Six Decades as Barcelona Closes Mega Sponsorship Deal

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By Martin Graham | 17th Mar 2022

The iconic Camp Nou stadium will be renamed from the start of the 2022/23 season as Barcelona seal a mega sponsorship deal.

Barcelona announced on Tuesday that their long touted deal with music and audio streaming platform Spotify has been concluded. The deal is to run for four years and will see both brands partner in sports and entertainment capacities.

As a result, Barcelona will shed off their Rakuten sponsorships and take the name of the Japanese online shopping company off their men’s team shirts to wear shirts bearing the Spotify brand instead. Barcelona Femeni will also end their shirt deal with Stanley tools to don the Spotify branding on their shirts.

This deal will also see Spotify adorn all of Barcelona’s kits, including the training kits and any casual Barcelona wear that comes out in the period of the four-year deal.

Most significantly is the renaming of the 65-year-old edifice of the Catalan giants, the Camp Nou, to “Spotify Camp Nou”, beginning in July 2022, the start of the 2022/23 season. This is the first time in the club’s history that its stadium will be bearing a name courtesy of a title partner.

According to the club’s official website, the deal will see Spotify become the club’s official audio streaming partner, and Barcelona’s shirts from the 2022/23 season until the deal runs out in four years’ time will be a “space that can celebrate artists from across the world”.

Barcelona president thrilled to sign deal with streaming giants

Barcelona is currently in dire financial straits having mismanaged their immense access to funds over the years. The Josep Maria Bartomeu era was rife with a lot of underhanded deals which are still under investigation, however, those deals have caused the Catalan giants to lose their high financial status in the world of football.

Last year, Barcelona president Joan Laporta revealed that the club was over €1.5 billion in debt with a negative net worth of over €500 million.They have also lost a lot of valuable assets, most notably Lionel Messi, the club’s greatest ever player.

The club hopes the new deal can help kickstart a new era for the club as expressed by Laporta in his statement after the deal was officially announced.

“We are very proud to announce a pioneering alliance like this with a world-renowned organization like Spotify,” Laporta’s statement began. “This partnership will allow us to continue to bring the club closer to its fans and make them feel, even more, part of the Barça family through unique experiences, combining two activities such as entertainment and football, making it possible for us to connect with new audiences around the world.

“It is also a union with which we continue to take steps forward in this new era that we have started, and which demonstrates, once again, the innovative character and the constant search of excellence that distinguish Barça and have made it a unique club in the world.”

Alex Norström, the Spotify executive in charge of the deal, stated that the deal will bring the artists on their platform in direct contact with the fans, starting at the newly renamed stadium.

“We have always used our marketing investment to amplify Artists and this partnership will take this approach to a new scale,” Norström said. “We’re excited to create new opportunities to connect with FC Barcelona’s worldwide fanbase.

“Spotify’s mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity, supporting artists to make a living off their art and connecting with fans. We believe this partnership creates many opportunities to deliver on this mission in unique, imaginative, and impactful ways.”

The agreement, however, is still subject to a vote by the Barcelona board of directors, who will convene again on 3 April. Barcelona will go on with the logistical details of the plan as fans prepare for an exciting new era at Camp Nou.

Martin Graham is an MFF sports writer