The bill for Barça's exile in Montjuïc

BarcelonaIn May, after the end of the league season, Barcelona Municipal Services (BSM) workers had to prepare the Olympic Stadium for the summer concerts. What they didn't know was whether Barça would return or not. Given the uncertainty, they decided to make minimal changes, except for the pitch, which the club decided to take the nurseryAt the end of July, BSM learned that Barça and the City Council had agreed to a phased reopening of Camp Nou. At that point, everyone assumed Barça's stay there was over. But delays in the construction work halted their return to the Les Corts neighborhood, so Barça had no choice but to return to using Montjuïc. In just one week, the club spent €1.2 million to get everything ready for football. Now, Barça has the First Occupancy License (LPO) for Camp Nou for phase 1a and will wait for phase 1b to return to the stadium, when its capacity will be 45,000 spectators. The club had hoped to receive it by early November and reopen Camp Nou for Athletic Club's visit on November 22nd. But, once again, delays—some of the fire safety equipment still hasn't arrived—cast doubt on that. At the club They are pessimistic and they see it as unlikely they will be able to return before December. In fact, from the area of ticketing There are voices speculating that the return won't be until after Christmas. Meanwhile, they'll have to stay at Montjuïc, with all the economic disadvantages that entails.

The first season in exile (23/24) was disastrous. Only €126 million was billed for stadium rentals, €100 million less than the previous season at Camp Nou (€229 million). 24/25 was much better thanks to a change in ticket sales policy: revenue jumped to €175 million. For this season, The forecast is to bring in 225Assuming the final stretch of the season takes place in the Les Corts district, the Barcelona City Council must continue paying rent in Montjuïc, which averages €900,000 per month, including the stadium, electricity, water, and additional space rental for all the logistics of television productions. The Barcelona City Council leveraged its position of strength in the negotiations with Barça.

"The City Council knew that Barça had no alternative, that it would be Montjuïc or Montjuïc, and they put a lot of pressure on them in the negotiations," admits a qualified BSM employee familiar with the case. The talks were tense, and reaching an agreement was very difficult. The council used its position of power, and even Jaume Collboni, the current mayor and then deputy mayor, went so far as to order the works to be stopped due to the lack of consensus. Hours later, Barça caved in, and the adaptation of the Olympic Stadium continued. "It's understandable that Barça paid to turn Lluís Companys into a top-level football stadium, but there were things, like the control room, that absolutely had to be repaired, and perhaps the costs could have been shared," this BSM source points out. Barça took care of everything. But even in the first summer, BSM took advantage of the fact that VIP boxes had been built. VIP to sell them at concerts like Bruce Springsteen's. The revenue was collected by this municipally owned company. In total, the club paid 20 million euros the first summer, money that included the more than 3 million euros (3,321,000) from the Mobility Plan, which represented 1,867,000 euros in investment and 1,454,000 in maintenance. Finally, it paid an additional 4 million euros for adapting Montjuïc mountain.

To this money must be added the expenses for renovating the stadium after the summer, which amount to the aforementioned 1.2 million euros. Half is for the new turf, and the rest for the installation of the time slots, the competition systems, the seats that had been removed for concerts, the repair of the locker rooms, and the placement of the benches.

Aside from the rent paid to BSM, each match requires a special reinforcement of the Barcelona City Police to close traffic on Montjuïc mountain and ensure its safety. Shuttle buses and increased funicular service are also necessary. All these expenses are also borne by Barça and amount to almost €140,000 per match. In total, around €12 million extra per season. "We've learned how to do business at Montjuïc, but we need to return to Camp Nou now to stop paying extra money and make the numbers work," sources from the Barça board point out.