Debt-struck Barça rent out pitch

Image: MJR Group Ltd./Coliseum

Deep in debt (1.35 billion euros) LaLiga club FC Barcelona (Spain) have offered fans the chance to play at their residence – Camp Nou – in lieu of a fee as the Catalan club looks for ways to get out of its dire financial situation.

Running between June 6^th to June 11^th, fans can pay €300 each for a 60-minute run out on the pitch.

The ‘Sport Bible’ stated that despite allowing soccer giant Lionel Messi to leave the club last Summer and convincing a number of senior players to take pay cuts, Barcelona continue to struggle financially.

Reports in Spain claim Barcelona are yet to announce the signings of Danish football player Andreas Christensen and Ivoirian football player Franck Kessié on free transfers as the club is not able to register the two players without exceeding its salary cap limit.

Futbol Club Barcelona, commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça, is a Spanish professional football club based in Barcelona (Spain), which competes in LaLiga, the top flight of Spanish football.

The 99,354-capacity Camp Nou is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It opened in 1957 and has been the home stadium of FC Barcelona since its completion.

The Espai Barça development plan goes well beyond modernization and reconstruction of FC Barcelona’s home venue Camp Nou. In addition to increasing the capacity of the current stadium to 105,000 from circa 99,000 and completely revamping the current structure of the Camp Nou, the Espai Barça project entails building a new Palau Blaugrana with a capacity of 15,000, an additional court with a capacity of 2,000, an ice rink, a new social area, a new commercial area, revamped club offices, La Masía (read FC Barcelona’s youth academy), and an additional 5,000 parking spots. This ambitious initiative has been in work for several years and is scheduled to be ready for the 2024-2025 seasons. In April 2014, Espai Barça was approved by the club’s members with a budget of $700 million.

The ‘sky sport austria’ stated that interested fans can enter the pitch after paying 300 euros per participant: Fifteen minutes to warm up, followed by a game of 2×30 minutes. A subsequent visit to the club museum is included, as are electrolyte drinks, a walk through the players’ tunnel and a referee.

The club wrote on its website, “Your dream can come true.”

The ‘sky sport austria’ further stated that despite facing a lot of financial heat, the club still wants to add star players to its squad.

Bundesliga giant FC Bayern Munich (Germany) is reported to have received a €30 million offer to transfer top scorer Robert Lewandowski, who is said to be interested.

The ‘Sport Bible’ further stated that the club could be on the verge of an “economic collapse”. Barcelona need to generate an income of above €500m (£425m) before June 30^th if they are to meet their projected €765m (£650m) budget needed to balance the books.

Perhaps as a result of those financial troubles, Barcelona have announced a new method of generating revenue by offering fans the chance to play on the hallowed Nou Camp turf.

Fans will enter the field of play from the same tunnel as their Barcelona heroes, according to the club’s website.

The supporters will then be allowed to shower and change in the Camp Nou locker rooms after the match.

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