Barcelona president Joan Laporta has confirmed that the Spanish soccer giants have raised €100m (U$102m) from the sale of future ‘season tickets’ in the VIP section of their Camp Nou stadium.
Marca first reported in December that Barcelona were trying to sell VIP box access to their home ground – which is currently being renovated – in an effort to comply with LaLiga’s 1:1 financial regulations, which would pave the way for them to register new players.
The club have been unable to play star signing Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor because they were in breach of their league-imposed annual spending limit of €426 million (US$439 million).
Barcelona have now sold “a percentage” of 9,600 premium seats being built at the stadium, according to Laporta, who said during a press conference on Tuesday that investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are buying €70 million (US$72.1 million) worth of seats, with the remaining €30 million (US$30.9 million) being paid by a buyer from Qatar.
Mundo Deportivo previously reported that the agreement grants the investors the right to exploit the use of the premium seats for 20 years, enabling them to profit from their use.
Laporta said that the deal would have eventually happened “in the future”, but claimed it had to happen now because LaLiga “imposed additional requirements” after Barcelona “submitted all the necessary documentation” before the end of 2024.
Barca also recently secured a financial boost by renewing their kit supply contract with US sportswear giant Nike in a deal worth a reported €1.7 billion (US$1.8 billion), but it has been reported that the deal was not enough on its own to make the club compliant with LaLiga’s financial regulations.
The Camp Nou is not currently operational but is slated for a partial reopening later this year. Barcelona’s financial director Manel del Rio noted that the sale of future premium seats “is not an invention by the club”, but a “reinterpretation of a business model” already used in the US.
“It involves creating a licence that allows investors to exploit this type of seating,” he added. “Barca therefore receives a set annual income.”
When Laporta returned to Barcelona as president in 2021, he inherited a club whose debts had soared to more than €1 billion (US$1.02 billion).
Since then, Laporta has struck several deals in an effort to raise funds, including selling a stake of the Barça Studios content hub and guaranteeing a share of the team’s future media rights revenue to private equity firm Sixth Street.
SportsProMedia
