MADRID: FC Barcelona are reportedly close to sealing a naming rights deal with the Laliga club’s shirt sponsor Rakuten for their ‘Espai Barça’ Nou Camp regeneration project.
The development follows on from the Barcelona city council approving the club’s stadium renovation plan in April.
According to Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo, Rakuten “aspires to acquire the naming rights”.
In February, Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu had said that such a deal could cover as much as half of the costs for the €600 million ($700m) development, valuing the potential Rakuten title sponsorship at around €300 million for a minimum 20-year deal.
Rakuten owner Hiroshi Mikitani is reportedly “very content with the relationship with Barcelona and wants to increase it to the point of having its name on the new stadium” to give its brand a “spectacular leap”.
Japan’s biggest e-commerce firm already pays Barcelona €55 million a year for the shirt sponsorship deal that was struck in 2016 and kicked off with the 2017-18 season to run for four years, with an option to extend it for a fifth year.
Rakuten also owns the J-League club Vissel Kobe and baseball club Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Incidentally, Barca legend Andres Iniesta is set to join Vissel Kobe, just another indication of the “extraordinarily deep ties” that exist between Rakuten and the club.
