The consequences of living in the shadow of Camp Nou

BarcelonaMany people talk about Espai Barça when referring only to the Camp Nou renovation project. As if they'd forgotten that this comprehensive renovation of the club's facilities also includes the Palau Blaugrana. At least, that's what members have been told since the 2014 referendum. But the reality is that the arena has always been a secondary priority. It's never been a priority and has seen how the other construction projects—basically, Johan Cruyff and Camp Nou—have overtaken it. So much so that, more than a decade after the members voted, Yeah, the project is not yet finished, the works do not have a defined start date and It is not clear where the money will come from to pay for it.

"The Palau? Will we start it when we can," said Joan Sentelles, Barça's head of operations, in February at the briefing with members. He responded without much faith, aware that the history of the new Palau involves a rather extensive list of setbacks, postponements, and changes. Not to mention the internal debate about whether it was really worth building a new one or if it was better to send the basketball team to play at Sant Jordi. "The Palau will be built, the problem is that we can't specify when," admits Barça's top brass. TAC Arquitectes, one of the firms that won the architectural competition—the other, HOK, has stepped aside—still doesn't have the final project ready. A year ago, the club said it would be ready by the end of 2024. Then, in the first quarter of 2025. And now they only venture to guarantee that it will be presented to the public before the end of the season.

Changes and adaptations to the Palau Blaugrana project

The final proposal remains a secret, and Barça admits there will be changes compared to the winning model, although "its essence will be maintained." It will have a capacity of approximately 15,000 spectators, more than the 10,000 initially projected. However, the price tag will also skyrocket: it was originally supposed to be 90 million, but with the arrival of Joan Laporta, the club reformulated the figures and raised the cost to 420 million. A Petit Palau was to be built on the same premises for matches with lower attendance, as well as an additional training ground and an ice rink.

For a long time, Josep Maria Bartomeu's board had left the pavilion in hibernation while spreading the word behind the scenes that the problem lay with the construction of the metro line 9 station. They said that until the Camp Nou stop was finished, work could not begin. But Sentelles, in the participatory session this February, denied this. In any case, there are two prerequisites that must be met. One, the venue must be built on the former site of the Miniestadi, a space that has temporarily become the starting point for the Camp Nou renovation. And the other, financing.

As NOW explained, the securitization fund that Barça signed with Goldman Sachs The financing of the Espai Barça did not include the construction of the Palau Blaugrana. In the 500-page document, it was only mentioned to say that it was allowed to spend part of the almost 1.5 billion loan to carry out the preliminary study. Nothing more. This already provoked a complaint from some members who felt cheated. The club's version, argued at the time by Eduard Romeu, former vice president of economics, is that at the time of signing the loan they could not guarantee when the pavilion would be built. So they left everything agreed upon with the investors: the financing would come from the surplus money from the stadium. A version that financial experts question because what was said in an office is one thing, and what is stated in the signed documents is another. Be that as it may, Romeo also admitted that it probably wouldn't be enough. the envelopes Camp Nou and would require an additional loan. That's why the club was also considering revising the budget downwards, leaving it around 300 million and making the necessary cuts to the project.

Barça's latest proposal: to begin construction on the Palau Blaugrana by the end of 2025

In July of last year, Josep Cubells, secretary of the board and director responsible for basketball, declared that the foundation stone of the Palau should be laid in February 2025. These words earned him a good internal slap on the wrist because, according to official sources, "he had spoken without knowledge of the facts." But the reality is that Cubells was speaking according to the forecast that the club had published a few months earlier, which predicted construction work would begin between January and February 2025. The latest update is cautious: it doesn't set a date for the foundation stone and says that the work will be done. from the fourth quarter of 2025A date that, according to sources consulted by this newspaper, is highly unlikely to be met due to the difficulty of coordinating work at Camp Nou with that at the Palau.

The first published sketches of the Palau depict a multi-sport venue, but they also suggest that it will be a large concert venue. That's why one of the stands at the end of the court is wider than the ones at the sides: just imagine removing the baskets and installing a stage in the middle of the court. The idea is for the venue to host concerts and events. indoor, basketball games (ACB and Euroleague) and the Champions League handball games. The rest of the sections, unless otherwise directed, will play in the adjacent pavilion, which will have approximately 2,000 seats.

The possibility of converting the Palau into a concert hall is not new. In fact, it was one of the ideas that most attracted investors, because it offered an alternative use and opened up other business opportunities for the pavilion, providing more guarantees when it came to repaying a hypothetical loan. Furthermore, the offices claim that Spotify has shown interest in renewing its sponsorship with Barça to give the venue its name—it would no longer be called Spotify Palau Blaugrana or simply Spotify. A trade that would pay off for them given its association with music. However, the idea isn't as popular with both the City Council and BSM, because it represents direct competition with the Palau Sant Jordi. But that's a different story altogether.