Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu said that the "ongoing controversy over Neymar's transfer to the club last summer will not affect the referendum" on the club's new €600M ($821M) plan to upgrade the Camp Nou, according to Dermot Corrigan of ESPN. The club announced on Wednesday that the vote will take place on April 5. Barça members -- 118,578 in total -- will be asked to vote "yes" or "no" to the question, "Do you approve the proposal for the new Camp Nou, the 'espai Barça' and the new Palau Blaugrana?" It was also confirmed that €200M ($273.6M) of the total investment cost will be "raised by selling 'surnaming rights' to the new ground." The facility upgrades will include "extended corporate hospitality spaces, an upgrade to Barca's basketball, ice-hockey and swimming facilities, underground parking spaces and a new training ground" for the first team (ESPN, 2/27). In Barcelona, Toni Frieros reported business consulting company Amber conducted a survey of 385 Barcelona members that showed that "if presidential elections were held today, it would be hard to identify a favorite." The participants in the survey "were also asked when they think the club's next presidential election should be held." The result showed that 64.2% believe there "should be a presidential election at the end of this season, while 35.8% supported an election at the end of the current term." The survey also revealed that "if given the choice between the currently planned upgrade, a smaller-scale renovation or no upgrade at all, 49.9% supported less renovations than planned, 29.1% favored the current plan and 20.3% said that they preferred no renovations." When asked "who they would currently vote for among hypothetical candidates, 23.2% said they would choose Bartomeu, 21.8% chose Agustí Benedito and 20.9% chose former Barcelona President Joan Laporta." From this question, the "most revealing fact was that 34.1% are indecisive and do not know who they would choose" (SPORT, 2/27).
