Barcelona“The Espai Barça project is badly done.” This phrase appears in almost every conversation with the new leaders of the club where the Camp Nou is talked about. Although the management of Josep Maria Bartomeu had left a project for the remodeling of the stadium, the board of Joan Laporta considered from the first day that it had to be retouched because “it had become obsolete”. After months of work, the club has accelerated and hopes to arrive in time to present the proposal during the assembly of delegates in October and, once approved, “start work in the summer of 2022.” Of course, the changes will not come for free: the estimates they make at the noble offices of the Camp Nou show that the total of Espai Barça will cost between 1,200 and 1,250 million euros. That is twice as many as the partners voted in a referendum in 2014.
This extra cost is not only attributable to Laporta. In the referendum seven years ago, the total cost of 600 million was set, but the figures soon increased, due to the modifications of the project and the money that the redevelopment around the stadium cost. The last number given by Bartomeu’s board, a few months before he resigned, was 815 million. “This money is not enough, we need to invest much more if Barça really want to have a first-class stadium and help generate revenue,” said Barça sources.
President Laporta detailed on Monday some of these modifications, such as adding “a second skin” to the stadium to improve the offers ofhospitality, or change the planned reforms inside to “prevent 12,000 subscribers from having to move from first to third tier.” But there are more. The “three diamonds” will be modified – the name given to the three buildings attached to the Camp Nou, made up of a hotel and offices -, the capacity of the Palau Blaugrana will be increased to 15,000 spectators and there will be performances in Sant Joan Despí and Viladecans. “The project is very advanced,” say sources familiar with the case.
The substantial increase in price “was to be expected.” But this fact, and despite Barça’s critical situation in terms of treasury, does not scare the club’s new managers. “It is true that PowerPoint can handle everything, but the projections we have are that, with what will be generated annually, the credit will be paid without problems,” they say from the club. In his day, Bartomeu left an agreement with Goldman Sachs ready to be initialed. Now, that will go from 815 to more than 1,200, this American fund is also in the pole position to fund the remodel, but it’s not the only one. There are at least five more funds that have been put in touch with the club. The contract will be similar: a loan for 30 years, with a five-year grace period while the works are being carried out, and a fixed interest.
Take ownership of the project
The modification of the project has a double meaning. First of all, to correct deficiencies of what the previous managers had left – as ARA explained, some builders who wanted to participate in the tender for the works had already warned that the old proposal was unfeasible. On the other hand, that the Espai Barça that is being built will bear the stamp of the current management.
The debate that opens at the club from now on is whether there will be a new referendum among the members. From a legal point of view, the board assures that it is not necessary and that the approval of the assembly is enough. But Laporta left open the possibility of doing it again on Monday. “If it can be telematic we will consider it. It is always good to have the opinion of the partners. There was little information in the referendum that took place “.
And the other point to solve is football. “Bartomeu’s board had said that you could always play at the Camp Nou, but this is clearly impossible. There will be phases, more or less long, in which it will not be possible ”, they insist from the noble offices. There are two alternatives: the first is to play at the Lluís Companys Olympics; and the other, to do so to Johan Cruyff. From the point of view of capacity, moving to Montjuïc would make things much easier, as it would be enough with additional stands and a few small renovations to enable the VIP spaces required by UEFA for the Champions League matches. . But at Barça, especially when consulted on the sports pitch, the preferred option is the pitch of the subsidiary “because the sizes of the pitch and the turf are exactly the same, and this is very pleasing to the coach and the players ”. The big downside? The capacity, which would be much lower despite installing additional bleachers. At the moment, no decision has been made.
Office work
One of the priorities of the new managers, so they took over the club, was to ask for an audit of the Espai Barça to find out exactly what had been done and what was left pending. One of the first actions was to invest 1.8 million to correct “serious damage” to the stadium that had not been amended by Bartomeu’s board despite being aware of it. “They haven’t done anything!” They exclaim at the club. Earlier managers, however, apologized for the pandemic and the impending change of directives.
Laporta and his team created a team that visited some of the main stadiums in the world to get ideas on the remodeling of the Camp Nou. He traveled to Madrid to meet the new Bernabéu. Also in Bilbao (San Mamés) or London (Tottenham). And in the United States, at the US Bank in Minneapolis, considered the best stadium in the world. This went hand in hand with internal changes, such as the decision to dispense with William T. Mannarelli, a former head of Espai Barça with whom – as ARA explained – there were doubts about the investments he had made while directing the project. With Mannarelli also left his team, consisting of 40 payroll workers and 10 external people. Now the project is being led by Ramón Ramírez Llorente, who only needs a dozen employees under his command.
Who will follow is Nikken Sekkei, who won the contest together with Pascual-Ausió. The Catalan firm ended up leaving the project, but the Japanese company has to carry out the works, as stipulated in the contract. However, this does not prevent any other architectural firm from being able to join soon.
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