© EuroFootball.com
The Catalan club decided not to build a new football stadium, and "Camp Nou" awaits renovation. This decision was made on Monday evening by the Board of Directors of Barcelona.
During a specially organized press conference to present the decision, Barcelona President Sandro Rosell emphasized that the final word would be given by the team's fans. In early April, within 5-6 days, a socios vote is planned to determine whether the official club supporters agree with the current management's decision.
The current Spanish champions had to choose between refurbishing the current "Camp Nou" stadium or building a completely new arena in the Avenida Diagonal area, which is considered one of the most important financial and commercial centers of the Catalan capital. However, the Board of Directors decided to forego the construction of a new stadium due to the high costs. The proposed project's value is 1.2 billion euros.
Barcelona's leaders decided to spend half of this amount, around 600 million euros, on the renovation of "Camp Nou."
"It was not an easy decision. Both options were quite attractive, but we decided to renovate the 'Camp Nou' stadium. It is a symbol of the city of Barcelona and the largest arena in Europe," S. Rosell said at the press conference.
The "Camp Nou" stadium was opened in 1957, and since then, Barcelona has been playing there. The renovation works on the arena are planned to start in May 2017 and finish in the summer of 2021.
The current stadium is expected to be expanded to 105 thousand seats, all covered by a roof.
In place of the current reserve team stadium Mini Estadi, a new Palau Blaugrana arena is planned to be built, with seating for 10 thousand people. In some cases, the capacity could be increased to about 12 thousand in the arena, where not only basketball games but also concerts and other events could be held.
Close to the new Palau Blaugrana, a pavilion with a capacity of 2 thousand seats is expected to be built, where Barcelona's sports section teams could hold training sessions or less popular matches.
The stadium of Barcelona's youth academy teams, Mini Estadi, is planned to be relocated to the Ciutat Esportiva training complex, with seating for 6 to 7 thousand spectators in the stands.
The leaders of the Catalan club also noted that during the reconstruction works, the "Camp Nou" stadium will not be closed, and the Barcelona football team will continue to play their games there.
