Barcelona x Spotify

$400M for a Kit Sponsorship

FC Barcelona has had some pretty iconic kits over the past several decades including and not limited to the special UNICEF kits at the beginning of the Leo Messi Era, and the Qatar Airways logo during the Messi Suarez and Neymar domination of Europe. But now, Barcelona is close to agreeing on a new deal for their main shirt sponsor: Spotify.

That’s right, the club is expected to announce a €280 million ($404.5 million CAD) deal with global music streaming platform Spotify. The whopping deal is set to last over three years for both the Men and Women’s Barcelona side and will include both the Spotify logo on the front of the kit, but Spotify would also become the first holders of the title rights for the stadium. 

Barcelona has played at the Camp Nou since 1957, but now it appears that the FCB stadium will be renamed and rebranded the Spotify Camp Nou. This will be the first time that the stadium has had its name change since its initial construction over 65 years ago. 

Now, this deal on the surface seems a bit odd, but here at white whale mktg, we like to dig a little deeper. 

Barcelona is a super traditional and iconic club in world football. The first question about this deal that comes into play is whether or not this change will be accepted well or negatively by the footballing community, and more importantly, the Barcelona fans. Camp Nou has such rich history. This is the largest stadium in European football, and it has been since 1957, but now they’re just renaming the stadium to make a few dollars. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how the Barcelona fandom will react. 

Even the CEO of Barcelona decided to step down after disagreeing with this new deal, stating that offering publicity in the front of the jerseys and stadium naming rights was too high of a price to pay for the club, a place with so much history to tell is being sold to the highest bidder and nobody is batting an eye. 

Secondly, this deal can also be seen as a massive spark in Barcelona’s troubling few years. The global pandemic, failure of managers, the departure of Messi, all have had Barca in some difficult times. Finances haven’t been optimal, resulting in some massive pay cuts, resignations, and the inability to sign top talent that Barcelona has historically done; Henry, Eto’o, Fabregas, Suarez, Neymar, the list goes on and on. This deal will give Barcelona the opportunity to get the income they need in order to attract new transfers in the summer. 

Either way, this is a massive deal in the sponsorship world. A massive brand, a familiar logo, an ICONIC team, all seem too good to be true…. I guess we’ll find out.

Published: February 11, 2022 - Issue 26 of The Sport Marketeer