FC Barcelona & PortAventura Announce Partnership
Visual: Espai Barça
(eap) Catalan football club FC Barcelona (“Barça”) and the PortAventura World theme park resort, located near Tarragona, are joining forces to develop new entertainment and leisure experiences. The first joint project within this strategic cooperation, which was officially announced today, relates to the creation of new brand experiences for the future Barcelona stadium Espai Barça (the reconstruction and modernization work on the existing Camp Nou stadium is scheduled for completion by the end of 2024, and the building including the brand experience world and the surrounding grounds will be operated under the new name of Espai Barça).
In addition, a working group with representatives of both companies will be formed to identify and develop international project and growth opportunities. On the one hand, indoor entertainment centres are to be developed around the globally known football club brand for spaces of 500 to 2,000 square metres, on the other hand, large-scale theme parks (with a ground area of over seven hectares) with rides, museums, restaurants, shops and more are to be created.
Juli Guiu, Vice President Marketing at FC Barcelona, comments: “This partnership with PortAventura World responds to FC Barcelona’s strategic efforts to explore new ways of generating resources within the entertainment industry. It is in the spirit of this Board of Directors to be imaginative in order for FC Barcelona to find ways to maximise the potential of the brand worldwide. Doing so, moreover, with an experienced partner in entertainment and tourism and with roots in the territory such as PortAventura is for us one of the greatest guarantees of success.”
“We are excited to announce today our new partnership between FC Barcelona and PortAventura World to create a unique entertainment zone. This agreement is a further step in PortAventura World’s continued diversification into the football and sports segment, demonstrated by its previous successful partnerships with various clubs and the formation of the joint venture with LaLiga,” states Arturo Mas-Sardá, President of the Administrative Board of PortAventura World. He adds, “We firmly believe that this new and challenging project will not only strengthen the FC Barcelona and PortAventura World brands, but will also provide visitors with unforgettable experiences by bringing together fun and passion for sport. Together, we are ready to take the intersection between sport and entertainment to new heights.”
PortAventura World is Spain’s largest theme park resort with its three associated parks and a total of over five million visitors per year. FC Barcelona, another Catalan brand, enjoys worldwide popularity and is represented by branches in Hong Kong (China) and New York (USA) in addition to its headquarters in Barcelona. Other major football clubs are also increasingly penetrating the leisure and theme park segment: A Real Madrid theme park is scheduled to open in Dubai (as part of Dubai ParksTM and Resorts) at the end of this year, and several entertainment centres of the British club Manchester United are being developed in China. ■
