According to an official statement FC Barcelona “have approved the ceding of the title rights to Camp Nou for the season 2020-2021 to the Barça Foundation to raise money to invest in research projects being carried out in Catalonia and the rest of the world involved in the fight against the effects of COVID-19”.
It seems like a great idea. Money raised by this move which as far as I know should be around 20M€/year will go fight the pandemic and its effects. So do you care if we have „Rakuten Camp Nou” or “McDonald’s Arena” for a year? Cause I do.
Change of name was already in motion since 2014 when socios approved the Espai Barça project. It includes change of name of a rebuilt stadium which they call „Nou Camp Nou” for now. So the sponsor was just a matter of time. But Espai Barça is on hold. The rebuild hasn’t even started and it might take years before it’s finished.
Remember when Barça was the only club left without a shirt sponsor? We were pretty proud of it as a part of “Mes que un club” idea. But then we put UNICEF, then Qatar Foundation and finally, once everybody got used to it, Qatar Airways. It’s the same story again.
Because there’s no going back to the original name. After next season there will be another foundation or social cause to raise money for and then then we’ll sell the name of the stadium to the highest bidder and become just like the rest of the clubs. It’s an end of an era.
