Up to 4,478 committing members of the Barcelona Football Club, 2.5% of all those in the club, are summoned this Sunday from 10:00 a.m. (on first call) to participate and vote in the Assembly that will act as the last filter to approve the sponsorship agreement that the Barça club, led by Joan Laporta, has reached with Spotifythe Swedish music playback company.
The runrún allows us to intuit a very large victory of the yes, despite the fact that noise is expected due to the club’s decision not to offer specific details of the agreement figures. Toni Freixa, former presidential candidate last year, has criticized this club’s modus operandi. “The fact that Spotify requires a confidentiality agreement to hide the essential data of the agreement from the partners, disables it as the main sponsor. Without understanding our idiosyncrasies as a club owned by its partners and essentially democratic, we cannot link with this entity,” he criticized through of social networks.
Laporta has moved his strings in the last two weeks so that the compromising partner has enough information to give the green light to Spotify’s sponsorship. According to media close to the Barça board, the Swedes will pay 435 million to Barça that would be distributed in this way: 240 million for stamping their name on the front of the men’s and women’s first team shirts for the next four years (57.5 plus 2.5 million in variables per season. In addition, Sportify will pay 15 million, divided into five for three seasons, for the training clothes of the men’s and women’s first team, .
The ‘title rights’ of the Camp Nou is more complicated. Until 2026, Spotify will only pay 20 million to name the Stadium, at five million per year. In between, Barça will have to go to Montjuïc for at least a full season. TO Starting in 2026, the Barça club will receive 20 million per year until 2034. Those 160 million, added to the 240 for the first team jersey, the 15 for the training clothes and the 20 for the title rights until 2026, add up to those 435 million.
The Assembly will be held electronically, but Barça will stage it in person at the Auditori 1899 with the presence of the entire Board of Directors, the Síndic del Soci and the members of the statutory Commissions. The first point of the day will be the president’s report, carried out by Joan Laporta. This will give way to Juli Guiu, who will explain, as far as he can, details of the project. Then, the club will answer the members’ questions and the vote will take place. For the agreement with Spotify to go ahead, it must be ratified by two thirds of the Assembly.