Barcelona | The Barça will leave the Camp Nou

The FC Barcelona board hopes to win the Espai Barça referendum by a landslide. The club’s estimates based on surveys conducted are that 75-90 percent of members would vote yes. The referendum will be held telematically from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on December 19.

Ferran Reverter confirmed that if the works were approved, Barcelona would have to go to play a season outside the Camp Nou: “The first season of works could be played in the stadium, the next would have to be played outside, but when it will be to leave of the second, we have time to decide where we would go and last year return to the Camp Nou with the most finished field. We would do a system a bit similar to that of Athletic. At the beginning we would not touch the tribune part and it would be rotating for the partners. We are still evaluating where we will go to play the second year. What is clear is that we will not leave the city or the urban circle of Barcelona. Montjuïc is an option , but there are others. We will try to always play at home because it is important for the partner, but Montjuïc will always be there ”.

Laporta was the host of the presentation of the telematic referendum that will be held on Sunday, December 19, to approve the financing of Espai Barça, for which the club would request, if approved by the members, a credit of up to 1,500 million euros to the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Under the motto “if we all vote, we will win” (if we all vote, we will win). the president explained that “in the last assembly, when asking for a referendum, the partners were at the height of a strategic decision that will not be an expense, It will be an investment and it is a great challenge. This reform will not cost members money and will not affect sports spending. In five years, 145 million have been invested and not even 20 percent of a work has been done that has skyrocketed in price since then, we want to complete this project ”.

Laporta, who expressed his wish that the yes win, explained that the referendum will be telematic “to favor participation.”

Ferran Reverter, CEO of the club, stressed that “you can vote from anywhere in the world. It is a decision in which we are already fifteen years late since in 2003 the first remodeling was proposed from the first meeting of Laporta, since then the club has earned more than 9,000 million euros ”.

The CEO highlighted that the 600 million that were budgeted in 2014 was undervalued: “To give an example, the Estadi Johan Cruyff was budgeted at four million and it cost 20 in the end. We estimate that the investment will be around 900 million in the Camp Nou and 400 million for the two new sports palaces and the bus station to which must be added 100 million for the campus, 60 to modify the General Metropolitan Plan and the 20 already mentioned of the Estadi Joan Cruyff ”.

All this will be financed with the additional income “A new crown of VIP boxes, sponsorship agreements, holding concerts, rights to the stadium name and also other additional activities at the Camp Nou, which can contribute 200 million.”

The financing would be for 35 years, being the five of deficiency (those of the construction) and leaving 30 of management to return the money. The works would begin in the middle of next year and would end at the end of 2025 as far as the stadium is concerned. The Palau and the campus would already leave at the end of 2027.

TJuan Manuel Tabero, director of Systems and Digital Transformation of the entity, also spoke. who explained that to vote, members must enter their membership code, pin number and date of birth from any device, which must be validated by members before December 7. Then a code will be sent to your mobile phone that will be the one that will be used to vote. Members who do not have devices within their reach will be able to vote from devices installed in the club with staff who will advise them.

Minsait, dependent on Indra, will be the company that will organize the telematic process, which ensures that the counting of the scrutinies will be carried out in less than ten minutes.