The prohibitive tickets have come to stay

BarcelonaWith 19.1 million in revenue from ticket sales, Sunday's Barça-Madrid El Clásico became the highest-grossing match in the history of the Camp Nou. Never before had a single match allowed for generating so much money. And it wasn't just the seats and the VIP products. One must also add an additional 1.5 million collected at the stadium shop over the weekend. The result on the pitch was not what the fans wanted, but at the club, they were licking their wounds, thinking about a business model that may be unpopular, but is clearly effective.

That day, Barça put on sale an initial package of tickets aimed exclusively at members. It is evident that a duel against Real Madrid has more appeal than any other match, and for this reason, the tickets cost a minimum of 315 euros, to which a 5% discount was applied for the membership base. They sold out immediately and, a week before the Clásico, a few more were put on sale to the general public. The cheapest ones exceeded 1,000 euros, even though they had restricted visibility. They also sold out. The attendance was 62,055 spectators, a record since the return to the 'blaugrana' stadium.

This weekend, football returns to the Camp Nou. The opponent is Alavés, which does not have anywhere near the prestige that Real Madrid has. Monetarily speaking, the tickets are more economical. But that does not mean they are affordable for all audiences. Taking a look at the Barça website, the cheapest ones go for 165 euros, in the lower part of the corner and the goal area. The most expensive ones, 329 to watch the match from the first rows of the second tier of the main grandstand. Prices climb again for the duels against Aston Villa (239 euros the cheapest and 429 the most expensive) and Villarreal (between 295 and 430), and moderate for the visit of Celta (from 146 to 347). On the other hand, for the match against Real Sociedad, they rise again, and range from 209 to 335.

Prices vary, rising and falling based on demand, dates, or the opponent. Furthermore, when a fan—whether a club member or not—buys a ticket, they can only select an area of the stadium. The specific seat will be assigned to them the day before the match. All of this is part of a computer system that is performing very well for the club because it allows for optimizing sales to the maximum and extracting more economic return. For example, it allows groups to sit together, a fact that is highly valued by buyers who decide to go to the Camp Nou at the last minute.

However, despite the variations, what does not change is the high minimum price. The decision lies with the board and has raised much criticism from fans who do not have a season ticket at the Camp Nou, because they consider them unaffordable and believe they only favor tourists with deep pockets. To compensate for this, the club offers some discounts to both club members and followers who can prove they are residents of Catalonia. Even so, watching a match at the Blaugrana stadium remains a luxury only within the reach of a few privileged individuals.

Barça will not change the business model of the Camp Nou

But despite the voices against it, Barça will not change its business model. And much less so given the need to maximize revenue to cope with rising expenses. One of these is the credit to pay for the Camp Nou, which has increased from the initial 1.5 billion to 1.8 billion. Joan Laporta's board has decided that it does not want to touch the price of season tickets in the short term – on average, it costs these members between 20 and 53 euros per match – and is betting on obtaining the necessary funds by marketing around 20,000 tickets for each match. The takings can be around 3 million for every day of football at the stadium in standard matches, and around 5 with higher-profile rivals or Champions League encounters. On exceptional days like the Barça-Madrid games, the figure skyrockets.

The fact that the Camp Nou is under construction does not alter this business plan. Even during the stay at Montjuïc, with a smaller capacity – around 50,000 seats – Barça tried to reserve 20,000 tickets for the box office. When the stadium is completely finished and there are 104,000 seats, the number of tickets for sale will be the same: the number of season ticket holders will change, as the voluntary leave will end and the club will once again have more than 80,000. Between these season ticket holders, tickets for sale, VIP products, the museum, and catering, the forecast is that by the end of the season more than 400 million in revenue could be exceeded, 50 more than those that were calculated when the remodeling began.

The club's version is that Barça is already in charge of pampering the member, whether because they have a season ticket or because it offers them discounts. And in an internal report prepared based on sales for the classic, it has determined that 86% of the seats were acquired by members (whether they were season ticket holders or purchasing the ticket) and that only 14% were the general public (Catalans who are not members or tourists). Another thing is that, among this 86% of members, some decided to resell the ticket and it ended up in the hands of foreign fans. In the Camp Nou offices, they suspect that this happens very often.