BarcelonaAfter several months of negotiations since the arrival of Joan Laporta to the presidency of Barça, the Barça club is facing the final stretch of the adventure to achieve what should be the most important sponsorship agreement of the second term of the Barcelona lawyer. A deal that, in turn, is essential to alleviate the serious economic situation facing the entity and to contribute to the construction of the sports project. As ARA reported last Friday, Vegan Nation is still very interested in becoming Rakuten’s replacement as the main sponsor of the first team jersey starting July 1st. But it is not the only option on the table. “We haven’t signed anything, but it shows that the Barça brand is alive because we can choose”, they celebrate from the Camp Nou.
Sources in the negotiations say that the digital vegan community founded in 2017 by Israeli businessman Isaac Thomas would be willing to include in his offer the sponsorships of the left sleeve of the game shirt, where the logo of the cryptocurrency could be placed with which operates, GreenCoin. This segment has been free since last summer. Vegan Nation, as reported by the newspaper Sport, has also been nominated to sponsor training apparel, which Beko is unwilling to renew beyond June 30th. “These companies are very complex, they have many ramifications,” they say from the directive, which marked the end of January as the deadline to close this issue. Vegan Nation is an option that has emerged in recent weeks and has not been provided by the club’s commercial department.
Barça estimates that it could generate a total of around 80 million a year for these three concepts from the 2022-2023 academic year. This is double what it will bill during the 2021-2022 financial year, in which Rakuten is paying 30 million euros more variable for the sponsorship of the front of the shirt and Beko 10 kilos for training clothes. However, the amount raised by the operation with Vegan Nation is approximately equal to the figure received by Barça in the 2020-2021 season of the two main sponsors: 55 million more variables from Rakuten for the shirt and 19 from Beko for the sleeve and training clothing.
Tencent, Polkadot and Spotify, the rivals of Vegan Nation
In any case, Vegan Nation is not the only company well positioned in these negotiations, led by Barça by the general manager, Ferran Reverter; the head of new income, Àlex Barbany, and the vice-president of the marketing area, Juli Guiu, under the supervision of the president, Joan Laporta. Tencent, a holding company of Chinese investment companies specializing in the video game and information technology industry, has also shown great interest in sponsoring Barça, as reported by theSport and has been able to confirm ARA. On the other hand, the music platform offer in streaming Swedish Spotify, which has also applied for the front of the shirt, does not reach the minimum annual mark of 60 million set by Barça, although it is an option that is welcomed by the good reputation of the brand. Spotify has a vested interest in landing in the world of football, as evidenced by its attempts to acquire a share of the Arsenal shareholding package, which ultimately failed. Sources in the negotiation assure ARA that this company is highly valued for its brand image and “for its connection with young people”. The problem lies in the amounts it offers, well below those that could be provided by Vegan Nation, which adds positive values such as healthy living with an impressive economic muscle, although it raises some doubts because it operates with cryptocurrencies.
In fact, several cryptocurrency companies have been waiting in the shadows since the spring, making very attractive offers from an economic point of view for the three free sponsorship assets. In this sense, the American Polkadot, dedicated to the exchange of this financial value, is the one that has arrived with more options on the finish line due to the high economic amount it is willing to offer in order to convert – Become a Barça sponsor, whether in the front, the sleeve or the training clothes. But Laporta’s management still does not feel comfortable dealing with this sector, which it considers speculative, risky, highly variable and unethical. In any case, this option is taken into account in case the negotiations with the other mentioned companies do not come to fruition.
The 300 million followers are the main attraction
Sources in the negotiations explain that, in the absence of global cracks such as Leo Messi, Neymar or Luis Suárez, who were the main claim to close the sponsorship with Rakuten in 2016 (although it did not start until 2017), the current attraction of Barça for companies interested in wearing the shirt from 1 July 2022 is the estimated 300 million fans that the Barça club has worldwide.
