By Mark Baber
April 22 – FC Barcelona have unveiled the designs for their revamped home – the Nou Camp Nou – at a ceremony attended by Barca board members, the first-team squad and media representatives. Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the new stadium will become “an icon for the city,” though most would argue it already is in global opinion.
The remodelled stadium – designed by architectural team Nikken Sekkei + Pascual i Ausio Arquitectes, will see the area under the grandstands open to the outside, the top tier of the stadium expanded so that it is the same height all the way around and the 1st tier given a steeper slope, with fans being brought closer to the action. It is due to be ready for the 2021-22 season.
Bartomeu said: “We are proud to present the winning proposal for the new Camp Nou. Many submissions were from the best architectural firms in the world. I want to thank all of them.
“I want to thank the work of the jury as well. They put in an awful lot of hours. It’s been a job well done.
“Other clubs have built better and more modern stadiums, with new technologies. This is why there have been projects in the last 20 years to improve Camp Nou, though for different reasons these could not move forward.
“Forty per cent of Camp Nou has not been touched since it was built. A club such as ours should have the best arena in the world. I believe this new Camp Nou will be an icon for the city, one of the most beautiful cities in the world.”
The total cost of bringing the stadium into the twenty-first century is expected to be around €400 million, but this is expected to be off-set by the sale of naming rights which may pay half the bill and Bartemeu confirmed that. “One of our objectives is to sponsor Camp Nou,” he said. “We’re not openly in the market, looking for a title-rights company, but it will be soon. Now that the projects are clear, we can go to the market and find it. Without that, and without a limit of around €200million, we will not start the project.”
Construction is expected to start during the 2017-18 season.
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