In '14, Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu admitted that partial naming rights for the new Camp Nou would be sold for around €200M ($220M) to "help finance the construction project," while denying that this would "necessarily mean further links between the club and its long-time sponsors in Qatar," according to Dermot Corrigan of ESPN. These links "have been strained through recent months." No extension to the current shirt sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways has been announced, even though that arrangement ends this summer (ESPN, 3/9). ESPN's Lee Roden wrote in a sport "that tends to focus on the short-term," the importance of the decision Barcelona made this week "will perhaps only really be appreciated in the future." Ingenuity "will be important" considering Barça plans to keep its ground "entirely operational during the project, promising that no season ticket holders will lose their place." It is thought that architect Nikken Sekkei's approach offered "the most viable way of making that happen." Construction "will be done in phases, speeding up during the off-season, and will vary according to the stadium's three separate tiers." The first will be given a steeper inclination to "improve visibility." The second will be "largely left intact," and the third will be expanded so that it reaches the "same height as the current, vertigo-inducing east stand, around the entire circumference of the stadium." It is that amplification of the third tier that will provide "the bulk of the capacity increase from the current 99,354 to a planned 105,000." It is promised that "every position in the stadium will be shielded from the elements" thanks to a new 47,000 square meter cover. It will be "intriguing to see how the fight to put a name to perhaps the most famous ground in the world develops" (ESPN, 3/9).
ADDITIONAL TENANTS: In Barcelona, Begoña Villarrubia reported "in its strong bet to promote women's football," Barcelona is considering a "new and pioneering idea: having its women's team play its league games before or after the men's team." Barcelona's women's team would play at the Camp Nou, "on an impressive stage," an initiative that would give a "strong boost to attendance." Barcelona execs announced this possibility during a European Club Association Women's Football Committee meeting on Tuesday (MUNDO DEPORTIVO, 3/9).
UNDER SUSPICION: SPORT reported the process to select the architect to renovate Camp Nou "had been immaculate until Tuesday." A "leak" that Nikken Sekkei had won the competition, which La Vanguardia published at 6:47pm, began to "raise suspicions." Those suspicions were confirmed because "the leak happened before all the architecture firms had presented their projects." Barcelona "did not officially announce the name of the winning firm until 10:49pm" -- four hours after the news leaked (SPORT, 3/9). In Barcelona, Esther Blasco reported Barcelona "felt obligated to explain the leak." Barcelona exec Jordi Moix "denied that the club had anything to do with the leak." He said that the outlet that published the news "made a guess" (SPORT, 3/9).
