2023-08-06 09:00:13
BarcelonaWorks against the clock, until late at night and at the weekend. For many days, the operators have been pulling their livers out of their mouths to finish the adaptation works of the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium in time, which will be Barça’s new home from Tuesday while the Camp Nou is turned upside down. The debut in Montjuïc was supposed to be later, at the end of August, but the club, which needs to make a drawer, insisted on advancing the calendar and scheduling the Joan Gamper trophy against Tottenham. “You should have seen the faces of the masons when they heard that the works had to be finished on August 8”, point out sources from Barcelona Municipal Services (BSM).
Barça and the council agreed more than a year ago on the transfer to Montjuïc, but it wasn’t until December that the operators began to put the needle in place. “Until that moment, it was not entirely clear that they would end up moving there this 2023,” added the company that manages the various municipal facilities in the Olympic ring. It was a tense few months, because the initial agreement was for a single season, but the Blaugrana team, which had just awarded Limak the remodeling works of the Camp Nou, needed to extend the exile longer, at least until November 2024. This led to a second negotiation that almost ended in tragedy. “BSM threatened to stop the works”, they explain from the council.
Barça, without strength in negotiations
Former president Josep Maria Bartomeu defended a reform that did not require any exile. On the other hand, with the entry of Joan Laporta’s management, the project was modified from top to bottom and there was no other choice but to move temporarily outside the stadium. “Barça immediately discovered that they had no strength in the negotiations, as BSM knew perfectly well that they could not go anywhere but Montjuïc.” The Olympic Stadium, which had been without a permanent tenant since Espanyol left for the RCDE Stadium, needed much more than sheet metal and paint. In recent years, its use had been reduced to mass concerts in the summer. The demands of the League and UEFA wanted a very strong investment and the municipal company – which at the time was managed by the current Barcelona mayor, Jaume Collboni – did not want to assume them in any way. Barça had no choice but to go through the address book.
“For BSM, having Barça is not an advantage. Rather the opposite. They do not do business with football, but by renting the stadium for other uses, such as concerts. This complicated the negotiations”, they admit from the club Barça, far from finding a path of roses, ended up paying for the entire remodeling of the Lluís Companys and a good part of the external adjustment. Twenty million euros, according to the club. Money to which 4 million must be added for the rental of the facilities, the cost of the security device for each match, that of the staff who will work in the stadium and the maintenance of internal and external elements, such as the escalators. The total sum, according to Blaugrana sources, will be around 35 million for this year and a half. “And that Barça has made sure to make the minimum necessary expenditure”, say BSM sources.
The women’s team is left without a place in Montjuïc
Barça, which had Joan Sentelles – director of purchases and operations – as liaison with BSM, took many weeks to specify the remodeling tasks and the dates of use of the stadium. “Meanwhile, BSM was filling up the agenda,” company sources explain, pointing to the Palau Sant Jordi calendar. Due to capacity issues on the mountain, matches in the stadium cannot coincide with concerts in the pavilion. Since only the men’s team has priority, in the long term this has resulted in the women’s team not having a place in Montjuïc even for the Champions League matches.
This week, during a press visit, the operators hurried to install the new chairs, benches and different canvases to dye the concrete of the Olympic Stadium blue. A new walkway for the media has been built, the changing rooms have been modernized and the electrical installation has been adapted. The control room is brand new, work has been done on making more toilets, meeting rooms and boxes vip. And outside, the club’s merchandising stores have already opened their doors.
“After the Gamper, the tasks will follow. It won’t be completely finished, but the vast majority is,” says one of the people working on the site. The Club and the City Council agreed that all the materials would be reversible, but in truth very few will be dismantled when the club returns to the Camp Nou. “Another thing is maintenance, because BSM will rarely invest in it,” point out critical voices of the company.
The concerts, a stone in the shoe for the operators
Adaptation works would have been much easier if it weren’t for the concerts this summer. This 2023, Bruce Springsteen has performed twice, Coldplay four times, Beyoncé once and The Weeknd once. “And more that they wanted to do it, but luckily they stopped,” comment from the council. The work was interrupted and the construction of the new equipment was done in phases. One, that of the zones vip, was one of the first to be completed. And tickets for Bruce’s concert have already been sold.
An investment that Barça has paid off. A round business for BSM.
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