LaLiga champions FC Barcelona will donate proceeds from the sale of the naming rights to its Camp Nou stadium to support the effort to combat the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The club’s charitable organisation, The Barça Foundation and the club’s commercial team will agree a one-year deal with an as-yet-unknown brand for the title sponsorship of the stadium.
A portion of the fee paid for the rights will go towards a Covid-19 project driven directly by the incoming sponsor with the remainder to be distributed among other key projects that will be developed in parallel.
Barcelona has been conducting a long-term search for a naming rights sponsor the Camp Nou, but has been unsuccessful in this up to now.
The club had planned to wait until the 2023-24 season to sell the naming rights. It was initially reported that Barcelona was looking for €300m ($325m) from a stadium naming rights deal of up to 25 years in length to help fund the redevelopment of the iconic venue and other facilities. It was reported last summer that the club was looking for at least €200m over two decades.
Jordi Cardoner, vice-president of the club and its foundation, said: “We are pleased to be able to offer up something as emblematic as the name of our stadium to contribute to the fight against Covid-19. The sponsorship investment will be used to finance research projects on the illness and other projects related to eradicating or lessening its effects. Cardoner was reported to have tested positive with Covid-19 at the beginning of April.
“Right now, we can’t quantify the effects of this health crisis, but we know it will require all of our resources to defeat it and for that reason, it’s of upmost importance that we all work together to combat this.”
