Agusti Benedito addresses expensive new Barcelona stadium plans.
Barcelona Presidential candidate, Agusti Benedito, has declared that he will continue the plans of building a new stadium although he will keep in mind the budgetary constraints. A new stadium and better on-field performance is promised by Benedito however, Victor Font and Joan Laporta still look to be the favorites.
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Benedito made some bold promises in his campaign speech, promising to build a new stadium capable of housing 105,000 fans. This would be a significant upgrade from their current stadium which can still manage an impressive 99,345 seating capacity. A bigger stadium would mean more fans and also more ticket sale revenue.
However, we must ask, is 900 million euros really worth spending at the moment of such a crisis? That is the amount the Presidential candidate expects to be spending on the project,
"“If we do it immediately, the project we’re putting forward wouldn’t cost more than €900 million (£817m/$1.1bn). This would be financed by the sale of the stadium’s naming rights for a period of 25 years.”Source Goal"
The ‘Espai Barca’ project had been approved in 2018 but was kept on hold due to the worldwide health pandemic. Benedito has now claimed that his new plans will make the project cheaper but he is very enthusiastic about the project and wants to do it right away,
"“If we win the elections, we will build a new stadium, We have considered two options. The first is to knock Camp Nou down and build it in the same place. That would mean playing in Montjuic for three years. The other option is to build a new stadium in Sant Joan Despi [the site of Barcelona’s training ground].”"
The plan which will approximately cost 900 million euros will be paid over a span of 25 years, The stadium will be financed by the sponsorship rights to name the stadium. However, Barcelona should first try to get their squad and Lionel Messi’s contract in order before making any more big investments.
The elections are due on the 24th of January and the two major power houses are Font and Laporta, should Benedito win, it will be a surprise to everyone.