BARCELONA
Barcelona have problems with the tickets for the 23/24 season, but where are the team going to play next season?
Barcelona have addressed the ticket situation regarding the change of stadium for the 23/24 season as they start work on Camp Nou.
Next season promises to be one of change for FC Barcelona. The club are leaving their famous Camp Nou stadium and are relocating for an entire season. Building work on the current stadium to redevelop it has been widely publicised, with the new product matching the top stadiums in the world, propelling Barça to a new era of commercial success.
The financing of the stadium redevelopment was sealed earlier in the week, but the problem has arisen of the number of tickets that will be made available, as well as the number of season ticket holders who will miss out due to the reduced capacity of the temporary ground compared to Camp Nou.
Where will Barcelona play in the 2023/24 season?
FC Barcelona’s move away from Camp Nou due to the scheduled renovation works has already caused problems for the fans. They are moving to the Estadio Lluís Companys, a ground that was built in 1929 but completely reconstructed to host the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and as such was named the Estadio Olímpico de Montjuïc until 2001. Naturally, it is a smaller venue than the 99,354-strong Camp Nou, holding only 49,472.
The ground is not built for football, and features a running track as well very flat stands. However, given it’s proximity to the Camp Nou and the sheer levels of insanity that would need to occur for Barcelona to play in Espanyol’s stadium, Joan Laporta’s club reached an agreement to hold Barça’s games there for the upcoming campaign.
The stadium is not built for football... and the fans already have problems
The club’s vice-president, Elena Fort, has explained the details regarding the ticketing situation brought about by the move. For example, of the 49,472 seats available, only 40,103 will have complete visibility of the pitch. The other 9,369 have an 80% visibility level, meaning that fans who sit in these seats will not be able to see the full playing surface. In fact, there is even a number of seats, 4,895 to be precise, that have an even lower visibility rate and will not be put up for sale during the season.
As a result, the season ticket holders do not have their seat guaranteed during this ‘exile’. “There is a suspension of the conditions of the season ticket holders at Spotify Camp Nou. All of the socios start from zero”, she explained.
The right of socios to automatically gain a season pass for the next campaign has been suspended, but the most loyal fans have been rewarded: anyone with an attendance rate of at least 85% of matches this season will have a 48-hour period in which they can apply for a season ticket at the Estadio Lluís Companys for next season.
