Barcelona stadium becomes Spotify Camp Nou under sponsorship

Updated Mar. 15, 2022 4:34 p.m. ET

Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — Barcelona's stadium will be renamed the Spotify Camp Nou after the club announced a sponsorship deal Tuesday to ease some of its financial struggles.

The agreement with the streaming company includes sponsorship of the main shirt and title rights for the stadium, which will have a sponsor name linked to it for the first time.

Spotify will replace Japanese online retailing company Rakuten, which paid 55 million euros ($60 million) for the first four seasons with the club before extending it for another, for reportedly 30 million euros ($32 million). The Rakuten contract was set to expire at the end of this season.

The Spotify announcement came a day after the Spanish league said Barcelona would head into the next transfer window more than 144 million euros ($157 million) over its spending limit.

The Spotify deal will help the club reduce that deficit and significantly improve its spending power as the league's salary caps are largely based on revenues, costs and debts.

The negotiation with Spotify had been ongoing for some time, and Ferran Reverter resigned as Barcelona's CEO last month reportedly over disagreements within the club about the new deal, though the club and Reverter said he left “for personal and family reasons.”

Barcelona has been slowly restructuring its finances after amassing huge debts because of the coronavirus pandemic and poor management by previous administrators. The club couldn’t keep Lionel Messi after last season because of its financial struggles.

Barcelona is back in the second tier of European soccer after nearly two decades contending among the elite in the Champions League. It plays Galatasaray in Turkey on Thursday in the second leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League. The teams drew 0-0 in the first leg in Barcelona last week.

Xavi Hernández's team has been playing well recently after a tough start to the season and is back to third place in the Spanish league after being near mid-table early on.

Spotify was recently involved in a controversy over content by comedian Joe Rogan, who has millions of devoted fans but angered some people who found his comments offensive.

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