La Liga giants FC Barcelona are considering wheather or not to move away from the historic home, the Nou Camp, as Barcelona look to build for the future, which could quite possibly mean waving goodbye to their beloved ground.
The La Liga champions have now commissioned a report over the viability of both projects with the objective to increase the capacity of their home ground to 105,000 spectator capacity.
The Barcelona board of directors are to hold a meeting at the historic ground this coming Monday, to thrash out a deal, as the club are weighing up its options, although a final decision date will not be made until early 2014 at the earliest.
Toni Freixa explained on the club’s official website it had two choices: “The construction of a new stadium on the land on Diagonal, property which belongs to the University of Barcelona, or a profound remodelling project that would constitute a new stadium, which would be built on the University site, but the new stadium would keep the same structure and feel to the Nou Camp, if Barcelona make the decision to leave the ground.
Freixa went on to say…..
Both would have a capacity of 105,000 spectators, the stadium would be covered, there will be a construction of a new Palau with a capacity of 12,000 spectators, an adjacent court with a capacity of 2,000 spectators, 6,000 new parking spots and access to the Ciutat Esportiva of the Miniestadi.
Barcelona have played at the Nou Camp since 1957, and the ground has hosted two European Cup Final’s, including Manchester United’s famous win against Bayern Munich in 1999.
But the club may want to look to the future, with the financial implications of a complete make over of the Nou Camp at the back of the board’s mind’s, and with other historic club’s in Europe making stadium moves in the last few years, such as Bayern Munich, Arsenal, and most recently Juventus, Barca may need to think fast from an economical viewpoint.
We’ve made advances, we have all the information and we’re in a position to make a decision.”
Despite the sizeable financial outlay that would be involved, Freixa insisted any project would not harm the club, adding: “It needs to be viable from a technical perspective, urbanist and economic. We would never submit a project that would endanger the sustainability of the club.” Freixa also went onto say.
The Camp Nou is already the largest stadium in Europe with a total spectator capacity of 99,000.
By Ben Reardon
@BenReardon1
