Barcelona has announced that they have obtained €1.45 billion ($1.6 billion) in funding for a redevelopment project and will begin the renovation of the Camp Nou stadium on June 1st.
Barcelona announced that they received money from 20 investors through various deals, and they will pay back the loans over a period of five to 24 years. The repayment will begin after the completion of the work.
The ‘Espai Barca’ plan involves spending money on various facilities including the football stadium, the Palau Blaugrana for basketball and handball teams, and the Johan Cruyff stadium for reserve men’s and women’s football teams. The plan sets aside 420 million euros for Palau Blaugrana and 20 million euros for Johan Cruyff stadium.
The club announced that they anticipate finishing the renovations at Camp Nou by 2026. In the meantime, the men’s first team will temporarily play at the Olympic stadium on Montjuic and return to a partially completed Camp Nou in the 2024-25 season.
Barcelona is following in the footsteps of their main rival Real Madrid by starting renovation on their stadium, much like Real Madrid began in 2019.
The club suffered a financial deficit of 481 million euros in the 2020/21 season, which resulted in the departure of Lionel Messi, the club’s top scorer of all time. However, the club is now recovering from this financial crisis.
During the previous summer, the club generated approximately 750 million euros by selling a quarter of their La Liga TV broadcasting rights for the next 25 years, as well as 49 percent of their Barca Studios.