Barcelona’s iconic stadium Camp Nou will soon change its name. The La Liga giant announced that they will sell the naming rights to the stadium in order to raise funds for the battle against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
According to the club’s announcement, the rights will be sold on a period of one year, with all the money going to charity.
“We want to send a universal message: For the first time someone will have the opportunity to put their name on Camp Nou, and the revenues will go to all of humanity, not just Barca,” said club vice president Jordi Cardoner. “The initiative arose in an emergency situation. We think that we have to have a very quick response, putting our crown jewel at the service [of the fight].”
Camp Nou is the biggest soccer stadium in Europe with a capacity of 99,354 seats. The stadium hasn’t changed its name since it was first opened in September 1957, with Barcelona rejecting some lucrative offers for naming rights in the past.
According to reports, the club would eventually cave in and sell the rights in order to finance the expensive renovation of Camp Nou. The plan was to attract an offer close to $300 million for 25 years.
Barca recently made the headlines when it asked its players to take a 70% pay cut and help the club to deal with financial difficulties caused by a coronavirus. The players initially refused to give up their money, but eventually agreed to forgo a smaller part of their earnings.
