Spanish soccer giants Barcelona generated a record €97.6 million ($106.2 million) in sponsorship revenue from new agreements in the 2022-23 season, highlighted by the lucrative partnership with audio streaming giant Spotify.
The LaLiga champions secured the income after striking 20 new sponsorship deals during the campaign.
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The biggest contract is with Spotify, which signed a wide-ranging deal with the Catalan outfit that includes naming rights to the iconic Camp Nou stadium and front-of-shirt sponsorship rights.
The Swedish company also became the first partner in the club’s history to sponsor the men’s and women’s teams at the same time.
The multi-year deal is understood to be worth a total of around €280 million.
Brands such as Bimbo, Herno, and Whitebit joined Barcelona’s portfolio of sponsors last season, whilst new deals were also struck with ScotiaBank, Stanley, and VeganNation, among others.
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By GlobalDataA total of €7.8 million was generated by the women's team through nine partnerships, which raised the outfit's income by 95% compared to the 2021-22 season.
Bimbo came on board as a main partner, while there were also agreements with the likes of Heura Foods and GLS.
During the 2022-23 season, Barça signed six new sponsorship agreements worth €36 million, which will come into effect in the 2023-24 campaign and therefore count as income for this financial year.
These include partnerships with Ambilight TV, a brand of the Dutch technology giant Philips, as the club’s sleeve sponsor, and Prime, the energy drinks brand co-founded by internet personalities-turned-boxers KSI and Logan Paul.
Barça also posted increased revenue from the sale of tickets and merchandise, as well as their venues business.
The club's facilities closed the 2022-23 financial year with total revenue of €154.8 million. This figure is 18% more than what was budgeted for at the start of the season and 4% more than what was recorded during 2018-19, the last complete year before the Covid pandemic.
The most significant increase in turnover was generated from Camp Nou, with €97.6 million in revenue.
The 2022-23 season was the first in the club's history where more than one million tickets were sold for the men's matches as they won their first league title in three years.
The Barça Licensing and Merchandising arm of the club posted a 54% increase in sales in physical stores in comparison with the 2021-22 season. In e-commerce, sales were up 47%.
Barça opened eight new stores in addition to the six that already existed (four in Barcelona, one in Tarragona, and one in Madrid).
The LaLiga giants also generated record turnover from its women’s side and basketball team.
Through the women’s soccer team, which won the UEFA Women’s Champions League last season, Barça recouped revenue of €2.7 million largely through ticket sales.
The Barcelona basketball side posted a record turnover of around €4.5 million. This represented a 126% increase from the 2018-19 pre-pandemic season.
Meanwhile, the club museum brought in €42 million in revenue.
In April, Barça agreed a €1.45-billion financing deal for their Espai Barça project that will see work begin to renovate the iconic 100,000-seat Camp Nou stadium.
In the upcoming 2023-24 season, the club will play its home games at the city’s Olympic Stadium, a move that will cost up to €20 million as it has a significantly smaller capacity than Camp Nou of 60,713. The LaLiga outfit struck a one-season deal with Barcelona City Council for the season-long stadium rehoming.
Camp Nou is already the largest stadium in Europe and its capacity will increase to 105,000 once refurbishments are completed, making it the third-largest stadium in the world behind North Korea’s Rungrado 1st of May Stadium and India’s Narendra Modi Stadium.
Plans also include installing a new roof and efforts to increase sustainability by incorporating a district heating and cooling system.
Barcelona awarded a contract to Limak Construction in January for the remodeling of Camp Nou, with the Turkish construction firm itself recently appointing UK-based Woo Architects to carry out the redevelopment of the stadium.
The Espai Barça project also includes a new Palau Blaugrana arena, which was completed last month, and the Campus Barça development.
The 7,585-capacity Palau Blaugrana is home to the basketball, handball, roller hockey, and futsal divisions of the club.
Barça will begin the defense of their LaLiga title for the 2023-24 campaign away to Getafe on August 13.
Image: David Ramos/Getty Images
