Camp Nou subscribers who applied for leave can recover their seat

The club’s top management has been working to find solutions for weeks. Filling the Camp Nou means, beyond the atmosphere, getting income for a Barça that lives on the edge of the treasury. Among the brainstorming, one of the issues that had been put on the table was that subscribers who had requested leave could recover their location. As ARA has learned, this measure is already being implemented. Members wishing to do so should contact the Barça Support Office (OAB), where they will collect their details to return to their usual seat in the stadium.

Club sources explain that “this is an exceptional measure” aimed only “at a small group of members who may be interested.” However, the entity has not specified any limitation on the number of season tickets that can be recovered. In total there were 26,238 on leave. As confirmed by the offices, a few have already gone back to be able to return to the Camp Nou this season. “It is not to be expected that it will be a massive option, basically because most of the people who applied for the leave did so due to economic issues arising from the pandemic,” points out one of the sources consulted.

In addition, retrieving the card has an asterisk. As confirmed by those in charge of management, the proportional part corresponding to the matches that that partner has stopped watching will not be deducted. In other words, the eight matches that have been played so far at the Camp Nou (six in the League and two in the Champions League) are paid the same and the money goes to the club’s fund.

Fall in revenue

The revenue channel for members and subscribers is equivalent to a fairly juicy item of the Barça budget. Before the pandemic (2018/19 season) it had reached 60.88 million euros, according to the club’s annual report. By contrast, for this 2021/22 academic year, the figure had dropped to more than half: 29.16 million. This is explained by the leave and also because many members had the additional discount of the free seat and the compensation for not being able to attend the Camp Nou during the first year of the pandemic.

Thanks to the sale of tickets – those available plus the free seat – the boxes vip and other products offered by the club on match days, before the pandemic the record figure of an additional 113.98 million was entered. On the other hand, only an additional 38.45 million have been planned for this season at the Camp Nou. In other words, from 174.96 million in the 2018/19 academic year, it has fallen to 67.61 in the budget. A third. But as people can return en masse to the stadium earlier than expected, the final figure will significantly exceed these 67.61 million. Without going any further, only in the classic 4.5 million were raised in ticketing. And, if all goes as planned, the free seat will be back in operation in November, coinciding with Barça-Espanyol. Gradually, the club’s economy was recovering.