As many other iconic brands have struggled during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, few have been shattered to the levels that FC Barcelona have. The historic soccer club reported being $1.57 billion dollars in debt late last year. Barcelona chief executive Ferran Reverter said the club would have been "dissolved" in April if it was a public limited company (PLC) after being taken to the brink of bankruptcy by the previous board. These financial issues even led to the departure of the club's most legendary superstar, Lionel Messi, to French team Paris Saint-Germain.
Last October, already without Messi, Reverter had played down fears over a loss in revenue with sponsors as the club negotiate several key contracts, including a new shirt sponsor. He said the "Barca brand remains strong" and assured the club expect to "increase income" moving forward.
This week he was proven right. FC Barcelona and audio streaming platform Spotify have agreed to a long-term sponsorship deal reportedly worth $306 million that will benefit the club's revival.
As part of the deal, Spotify will become the main sponsor of the La Liga club and will see its branding appear on the front of both the men’s and women’s team shirts and training kits from the 2022-23 season through the next four seasons.
Barcelona will also rebrand its historic Camp Nou — the club’s home stadium — to Spotify Camp Nou. The deal, which has been approved and signed by Barcelona’s board of directors, will need to be ratified at the Barcelona Members Assembly in April, which is expected to pass without issue.
Spotify will replace e-commerce company Rakuten, which paid $60 million for four seasons and reportedly paid another $32 million to extend its contract for an additional year.
Barcelona will leverage the deal to help alleviate financial woes and improve the club’s spending power to continue to compete with the heavy hitters of European Soccer, as it enters the next transfer window $157 million over its spending limit.
In March 2021, Barcelona was technically bankrupt, and three months later the club borrowed $605 million from Goldman Sachs. But that debt didn’t stop members of the club from voting to renovate the 64-year-old Camp Nou with up to $1.69 billion in funding last December.
Reverter branded former president Josep Maria Bartomeu's running of the club as "disastrous," accusing him and his directors of signing players they could not afford, offering inflated wages and paying money to journalists.
Bartomeu resigned amid growing discontent among supporters in October 2020 and was eventually replaced by Joan Laporta in March following a delayed election process due to the pandemic.
It will be a long road back for this iconic club that is currently performing miles under their standard. But it seems Barcelona is finally showing signs of life under brand new leadership hoping to carry the team back to glory.
