Features

Barcelona reveals new fan experience offering

Spanish LaLiga football club FC Barcelona has unveiled its latest offering to enhance matchday revenue, a new fan experience space entitled La Rambla del Barça.

Over the coming months, the ticket office boulevard at access point nine of the Camp Nou will be converted into the new entertainment space, which the club said is designed to “give the best possible welcome” to fans who visit Barcelona’s facilities.

Work has started on the project this week and will be carried out in a phased manner so that existing services are not affected. La Rambla del Barça is scheduled to open in the spring, with Barcelona engaging catering company Singularis and restaurant developer Grup Iglesias to aid the project.

The new space will utilise cargo containers to house its offerings. Barcelona said La Rambla del Barça will have a “completely renewed gastronomic offer” with restaurants of various types that will offer visitors the possibility to eat at any time of the day.

The focal point will be a new Barça Cafe, a restaurant that will offer quality Catalan cuisine, with other spaces serving both local produce and international cuisine. In terms of wider fan experience offerings, the new space will retain the ‘robokeeper’, an attraction that challenges fans to beat a virtual goalkeeper. Barça Store Camp Nou will also remain in the area.

Barcelona said in a statement: “The Barça brand will be the common denominator of all corners of this space that will propose to visitors a new way of relating to the club’s facilities, reflecting the essence of a rambla, based on coexistence, relaxation and good vibes.”

The latest announcement comes after Barcelona last month formed a dedicated business unit designed to drive better performance from the operations of its Palau Blaugrana arena. Having first opened in 1971, the 7,500-capacity arena is home to Barcelona’s basketball and handball clubs. Part of the Espai Barça development plan, the current Palau Blaugrana is set to be replaced by a new arena.

Barcelona completed the first part of its Espai Barça masterplan with the opening of Estadi Johan Cruyff in August. The stadium has become the new home of the Barça B and women’s football teams, as well as the U19 side when it plays in European competitions.

Espai Barça seeks to transform and integrate Barcelona’s stadia and arenas. The programme envisages the redevelopment of the Camp Nou, and the creation of the Barça Campus, which involves opening the club facilities up to the city, removing architectural barriers and introducing measures to improve urban mobility in the vicinity of the stadium.

Images: FC Barcelona