Barcelona not returning to Camp Nou this season means a €28m budget loss for club – report

Barcelona have not had much luck with progress in the renovation of Spotify Camp Nou all season, and every successive report only dampens the enthusiasm further.

The Catalans were initially expected to return to their home stadium towards the end of 2024 and saw the deadline pushed to February 2025. 

In the latest delay update, it was revealed that the stadium would only be available towards the tail end of the season, possibly for the El Clasico in May.

Now, however, it looks unlikely that the team will return home this season.

Economic repercussions

As relayed in a recent update by Jordi Cardero, Barcelona not returning to Spotify Camp Nou this season means a loss of €28 million in their budget which comes as a huge blow for the administration.

After all, the club are set to lose out on massive ticket sales, not only in terms of the number of seats up for grabs but also the prices of individual seats and the turnout of fans who will have to travel less to watch the team in action.

Joan Laporta and Co. will thus look to amortize the loss by showing the profits from the sales of Unai Hernandez, Vitor Roque, and others, although it is clear that it is an unexpected blow for Barcelona.

What complicates the matter further is the fact that Camp Nou may not even be available until January 2026, meaning the team may not have their home venue until the halfway point of next season.

The big bottleneck in opening up the stands for public lies in the fact that the venue will not meet the required security levels, and safety emergency exits and will not meet the requirements put forth by the firefighters.

Further, the construction of the VIP boxes which has been commissioned by external companies, will take at least three months to be ready and likely even longer.

Barcelona will thus complete the current season at Montjuic and it remains to be seen if they are forced to kick off the new campaign at the same venue as well.