Barcelona to sell Camp Nou naming rights to raise funds for coronavirus fight
Barcelona has said the money raised will be used "to invest in research projects being carried out in Catalonia and the rest of the world involved in the fight against the effects of Covid-19.”
FC Barcelona are set to take an unprecedented step by selling the naming rights to the Camp Nou for the first time since the stadium opened in 1957.
The LaLiga club has announced it will sell the naming rights of the iconic 99,000-seater stadium for a period of one year in a bid to raise money for the fight against the coronavirus.
After the United States, Spain has been the second worst affected nation by the coronavirus pandemic, with the country so far reporting more than 204,000 cases and 21,200 deaths.
In a statement, Barcelona said that the money raised from the sale of the stadium naming rights will be used “to invest in research projects being carried out in Catalonia and the rest of the world involved in the fight against the effects of Covid-19.”
The club’s philanthropic wing, the Barça Foundation, will begin the process of finding a sponsor for the stadium in the coming weeks. The stadium will keep the name “Camp Nou” in addition to including the sponsor’s name.
Barcelona statement
“We are very happy to be able to drive forward this initiative that offers something as emblematic as the name of our stadium, so that institutions, organisations, businesses who wise may associate themselves with it and as such, contribute to the fight against COVID-19, given that their investment will used to finance research projects on the illness and projects that are working to eradicate or lessen its effects,” said Barcelona vice-president, Jordi Cardoner.
“Right now, we can quantify the effects of this health crisis but what we do know is that it will require all our resources to defeat it and for that reason it is so important that we all together make a solid, firm commitment.”
Real Madrid study stadium move
The news comes after reports on Monday that Barca’s rivals, Real Madrid , are considering the possibility of playing their remaining home games at their Valdebebas training ground stadium should LaLiga decide, as is expected, to have the rest of the season played behind closed doors.
The move to the 9,000-seater Alfredo di Stefano Stadium, which normally hosts the club’s ‘B’ team games, would allow work to accelerate on the €500 million remodelling of the Santiago Bernabéu.