Featured image credit: FC Barcelona
Aramark has extended its partnership with FC Barcelona through a new strategic agreement that also sees the hospitality services company invest in the Spanish LaLiga football club’s digital media arm, Barça Vision.
The American firm is FC Barcelona’s current catering and hospitality provider but will now broaden its association with the club. Aramark Spain becomes the official catering partner for the future Spotify Camp Nou and will also service the wider Espai Barça complex.
Through Espai Barça, FC Barcelona is seeking to convert its facilities into an international hub of innovation with experiences that will form part of a new concept of entertainment 365 days a year. This covers all of the club’s facilities in the neighbourhood of Les Corts in Barcelona, as well as the Estadi Johan Cruyff and Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper in Sant Joan Despí.
Aramark becomes the latest Espai Barça partner in a sponsorship programme the club has drawn up specifically for the wide-ranging scheme. In April, FC Barcelona made vertical transportation and urban mobility company TK Elevator the first signing for the programme designed to attract firms operating in the B2B and B2C sectors to Espai Barça.
The club has since agreed deals with the likes of EHEIM Möbel, Fortinet and ONCE, HPE, Figueras Seating and Iluminación Disano.
Barça Vision is a club initiative that brings together projects associated with Web3, NFTs and the metaverse as part of its strategy for building Espai Barça Digital. With the Aramark agreement, FC Barcelona said it has “strengthened the Barça Vision structure with a strategic and expert business partner in the search for business opportunities related to the hospitality industry and that of gastronomic experiences within large sporting facilities”.
FC Barcelona said Aramark becomes a Barça Vision shareholder through the agreement announced yesterday (Thursday). The club has not specified the terms of this side of the agreement, although Barcelona-based newspapers Mundo Deportivo and Sport said Aramark has agreed to assume the interest in the business that was due to have been held by German investor Libero Football Finance.
Libero acquired a 9.8% stake in Barça Vision for €40m (£34.2m/$43.7m) in August 2023 as part of a deal which raised €120m for the club. However, Libero’s side of the agreement ultimately failed to be concluded.
The FC Barcelona deal marks Aramark’s second major agreement in the sports facilities space this week. Aramark was yesterday announced as a founding partner of Everton Stadium, with the new waterfront home of the English Premier League football club set to become a flagship for the company’s European operation.
The long-term partnership, which marks Aramark’s first step into English football, will see the firm deliver world-class food, drink and experiences across Everton Stadium’s footprint all year round, incorporating matchday and non-matchday events.
Share this