It has been a busy week for Barcelona Football Club. Last night’s six goal hammering of Celtic was sandwiched between discussions about remodelling the Camp Nou Stadium or moving to a new 105,000 seat arena and the announcement of detail this afternoon around the signing of Intel as the club’s technology partner in a deal worth an estimated €25 million.
The Stadium deal is one that will resolve the fact that 20,000 fans within the stadium have a restricted view of the pitch and that only 2% of the seats are classified as being ‘corporate’ or VIP.
The club has already ruled out any short term naming rights deal, despite estimating that to be worth as much as €250 million over time. Fans on the other hand have expressed greater concern over season ticket prices so whether the old name remains in the long term may yet be open to some doubt.
The technology partnership with Intel is the latest in a series of moves by major companies, many of whom have a strong base in Ireland to associate the benefits of systems and devices with the marginal gains that are so important in sport.
Yesterday we wrote about Samsung signing a deal with Leinster Rugby and Microsoft have been growing more and more involved with sport through Formula One, NFL and the British and Irish Lions tour this year to Australia.
It is an obvious link with sport providing real and easily understood benefits from the introduction of technology into the performance space, as well as into the world of fan engagement.
We will look at the detail of the Barcelona and Intel deal tomorrow morning as well as continuing to work with core group members of Sport for Business on issues surrounding how technology and sport can benefit each other and wider society.
Sport for Business is a membership organisation. We help sport reach out to business, and business to engage the power of sport in its management, marketing and values. We publish a free daily news digest on the commercial world of Irish sport, we bring together smart minds in round table and larger formats, and we create initiatives among our members that make a difference.
