Getty Images
- Both companies in last year of contracts with Barca
- Rakuten’s deal worth €220m; Beko pays €57m
- Camp Nou stadium redevelopment delayed to 2025
Spanish soccer giants Barcelona are looking to extend their commercial partnerships with Japanese ecommerce company Rakuten and Turkey-based electronics brand Beko by a further year for the 2021/22 season, according to Mundo Deportivo.
Barca signed a massive four-year deal with Rakuten in 2016, reportedly worth at least €220 million (US$259 million) from July 2017 through to June 2021. The contract is said to have included an option to extend for a further year, which the club are reportedly eager to activate to secure significant income amid the ongoing financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Talks between the La Liga outfit and Rakuten are already underway, Mundo Deportivo said, with the aim of finalising an extension by the end of this year. The report added that Rakuten is seeking a reduced sum for the agreement.
Beko, which became Barca’s sleeve sponsor in 2014 before upgrading its association as the club’s official training partner, is also reportedly open to a one-year extension beyond the 2020/21 season. The company’s current deal is said to be worth €57 million (US$67 million) but, like Rakuten, Mundo Deportivo said Beko is eyeing reduced terms.
In April, Barca president Josep Bartomeu admitted the club would fail to reach their €1.05 billion (US$1.23 billion) revenue target for the 2019/20 season due to Covid-19. The pandemic has now further impacted the club after it was confirmed plans to renovate their Camp Nou stadium and surrounding facilities will not be completed before 2025.
Jordi Moix, economic and assets vice president and head of the Espai Barca redevelopment, told Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia that Covid-19, combined with a change of mayor in Barcelona, had delayed the approval process for the project.
Work on the iconic venue has been repeatedly delayed. Moix has now said the project will commence next month, with full-capacity works beginning the following summer.
“I wish we could have started two or three years ago,” Moix told La Vanguardia. “There were two elements here that we did not control and that are logical. There was a change of mayoralty and that led to a process of repeating a part of the work that we had already done.
“The second factor is that we had to bring the majority of political forces to an agreement in exceptional political times. All this was added [to] the coronavirus, delaying almost everything.”
Moix added that Barca’s existing commercial deals would continue to finance the running of the club and would not be used to service the debt from the redevelopment. US bank Goldman Sacs is also reportedly willing to extend a 30-year financing agreement to pay for the project, which is estimated to cost €600 million (US$705 million).
Spanish soccer giants Barcelona are looking to extend their commercial partnerships with Japanese ecommerce company Rakuten and Turkey-based electronics brand Beko by a further year for the 2021/22 season, according to Mundo Deportivo.
Barca signed a massive four-year deal with Rakuten in 2016, reportedly worth at least €220 million (US$259 million) from July 2017 through to June 2021. The contract is said to have included an option to extend for a further year, which the club are reportedly eager to activate to secure significant income amid the ongoing financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Talks between the La Liga outfit and Rakuten are already underway, Mundo Deportivo said, with the aim of finalising an extension by the end of this year. The report added that Rakuten is seeking a reduced sum for the agreement.
Beko, which became Barca’s sleeve sponsor in 2014 before upgrading its association as the club’s official training partner, is also reportedly open to a one-year extension beyond the 2020/21 season. The company’s current deal is said to be worth €57 million (US$67 million) but, like Rakuten, Mundo Deportivo said Beko is eyeing reduced terms.
In April, Barca president Josep Bartomeu admitted the club would fail to reach their €1.05 billion (US$1.23 billion) revenue target for the 2019/20 season due to Covid-19. The pandemic has now further impacted the club after it was confirmed plans to renovate their Camp Nou stadium and surrounding facilities will not be completed before 2025.
Jordi Moix, economic and assets vice president and head of the Espai Barca redevelopment, told Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia that Covid-19, combined with a change of mayor in Barcelona, had delayed the approval process for the project.
Work on the iconic venue has been repeatedly delayed. Moix has now said the project will commence next month, with full-capacity works beginning the following summer.
“I wish we could have started two or three years ago,” Moix told La Vanguardia. “There were two elements here that we did not control and that are logical. There was a change of mayoralty and that led to a process of repeating a part of the work that we had already done.
“The second factor is that we had to bring the majority of political forces to an agreement in exceptional political times. To all this was added the coronavirus, delaying almost everything.”
Moix added that Barca’s existing commercial deals would continue to finance the running of the club and would not be used to service the debt from the redevelopment. US bank Goldman Sacs is also reportedly willing to extend a 30-year financing agreement to pay for the project, which is estimated to cost €600 million (US$705 million).
