The less pleasant side of Flick's Barça fever

Special Envoy to DortmundIt's clear that Hansi Flick's Barça is engaging. The team wins matches, is in contention for every title, and plays attractive football. After a few sleepy seasons in which fans seemed to lose interest, today Barcelona fans are once again wondering when the match is on. Attendance figures at Montjuïc are skyrocketing, and there's also a lot of demand for away tickets. This is well known at the Barcelona Supporters' Office (OAB), where the switchboard is once again buzzing for Champions League matches away from the stadium. This is especially true in Dortmund, where there was already a lot of demand for the December regular season match and which this Tuesday will break the season record with 3,000 fans at Signal Iduna Park.

"It's a very good sign for us. We feel the connection between the fans and the team. It's fantastic, it helps us perform. It's a very positive synergy," commented Flick, a coach who has always been very grateful to Barcelona fans, in the build-up to the match. Dortmund, for reasons that are not entirely clear, is in high demand, as the club admits. But it shouldn't be considered an isolated case. Barça also received numerous requests for travel to Lisbon for the round of 16 against Benfica. The difference is that at that time, FCB Desplazaments didn't offer any options for travel on the same day of the match.

The Barça branch that handles travel had, from 2015 until two years ago, an attractive program for fans, who thus only had to request one day off from work. In addition, the club subsidized part of the cost and implemented a loyalty and points program to incentivize members. Travel was provided for every match, although in some cases it was canceled due to low demand. The fact is that, amidst the widespread cuts, Joan Laporta's board of directors closed the door.

Since then, FCB Desplazaments has only made a few occasional trips, such as the Women's Champions League final in Bilbao and a few occasional coach trips. But there's no trace of the loyalty program. Charter flights were returning this year for the December match in Germany. However, there was no organized trip of any kind for the Champions League round of 16. It seems the season has opened for April, both for a return visit to the Ruhr area and for the Copa del Rey final in Seville, although in the latter case, the trip isn't by plane, only by train or coach. "These are green shoots, and we're confident it will continue because the team needs us and we don't want to let us down," notes FCB Monitoring.

The trip to Dortmund, by plane and without an overnight stay, cost 449 euros.

It would be an idyllic world if it weren't for the price, which is the main trigger for everything. In Dortmund, the charter flight and transfer to the stadium cost €449 for members (€516 for supporters' clubs), plus the €57 ticket price. A very high sum that has put off some fans. In fact, of the 3,411 tickets available, the proportional portion for members has not sold out. And the club, responding to ARA's request on the matter, specifies that the 467 plane seats (three have been rented) that had been put on sale have not been filled. "Whether it's expensive or not is an individual matter. But we have to keep in mind that we're in the middle of Holy Week and prices are influenced by high mobility throughout Europe," says an official Barça spokesperson.

Supply and demand aren't attributable to the result of the first leg, as tickets had to be ordered many days before the 4-0 thrashing at Montjuïc. However, the truth is that many fans have found their own way, with cheaper options that involve traveling on matchday, sleeping in a hotel near the city, and returning home the next day. They have taken direct flights to Dortmund Airport—which is quite small and therefore has few connections—or landed in nearby cities like Düsseldorf or Cologne.

Despite criticism over prices, FCB Monitoring wants to see "the glass half full." This is due to the three flights to Dortmund and the fact that there will ultimately be five charter trains for the Copa del Rey final in Seville. But they remain uncertain about what will happen in the upcoming big matches of the season—basically, the possible men's and women's Champions League finals—and regret that the price is still high: traveling to and from the Andalusian capital for the Cup costs 265 euros for members and 299 for supporters' clubs. "A lot of travel has been reduced this year, and we'd like this saving to be felt in this final stretch of the season." There's a desire for football, to travel, and to enjoy Barça. The problem is that not everyone has the money to pay for it, and there isn't a consolidated structure for travel like there was before.