The Spotify name and logo will adorn the front of FC Barcelona’s men’s and women’s shirts for the 2022-2023 season, beginning July 1. The four-season sponsorship deal also includes the naming rights to Barcelona’s famed Camp Nou stadium, temporarily renaming it Spotify Camp Nou. The deal is subject to ratification by the Barcelona Members Assembly, set to take place in April. No official financial figures were announced, but ESPN reports that sources had previously pegged the deal at €280 million ($307 million). The deal comes after Barcelona’s CEO left the club, reportedly due to his unhappiness with the final terms of the Spotify deal. The club’s La Liga rivals Real Madrid reportedly earn 70 million euros per season from its main shirt sponsor Emirates.
In an official statement, Spotify’s “Chief Freemium Business Officer” Alex Norström said of their plans for Camp Nou:
“Spotify is working with Barça to leverage our access to in-stadium elements to amplify artists and enable discovery. For example, using the dynamic digital displays to showcase and geo-target relevant artists to Barça’s global TV audience. While viewers in Europe may see a message about one artist, TV viewers in India could be served a different and locally relevant message.”
Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek is a lifelong Arsenal Football Club fan, and he has previously attempted to involve himself in the highest echelons of global soccer. Last year, he led a consortium that made a reported 1.8 billion pound bid to take over ownership of the London club. At the time of the bid, Ek was worth $4.7 billion and Spotify was worth $54 billion, according to Forbes. The bid was rejected by Arsenal’s owners Kroenke Sports Enterprises.
FC Barcelona, founded in 1899, did not have a main shirt sponsor until 2006 when the club came to an agreement with UNICEF. (For contrast, Real Madrid, founded in 1902, got its first main shirt sponsor in 1982.) The deal with UNICEF lasted until 2011 when Barcelona opted for a more lucrative deal with Qatar Sports Investment worth 30 million per season. The deals grew only more profitable, culminating in a 55-million-euro-per-season deal with Rakuten that will expire at the end of the 2021-2022 season. The Japanese e-commerce giant reportedly chose not to extend its deal with Barcelona due to the departure of superstar Lionel Messi and also the club’s massive debts, which had reached 1.35 billion euros by August 2021.
Spotify has recently faced a new round of criticism due to its exclusive hosting of The Joe Rogan Experience. Doctors, scientists, and public health officials have decried the podcast for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. In addition, Neil Young took his music off of Spotify, stating that the platform was “spreading fake information about vaccines—potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.” Joni Mitchell followed suit, saying that she’s also pulling her music from Spotify “in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.” It was later revealed that Spotify’s deal with Rogan is worth $200 million—double the originally reported figure.
Read “In Praise of Neil Young’s Eternal Battle With the Music Industry” on the Pitch.
