At the start of the year FC Barcelona expected to continue work on the renovated Spotify Camp Nou and raise capacity to more than 60,000. The club planned to secure the Phase 1C permit from Barcelona City Council in time to host over 62,000 supporters for the match against Levante scheduled for 22 February.
Those plans have now been pushed back: Catalunya Radio reports that the City Council will not grant the 1C permit in time for the Levante game. As a result, the stadium’s capacity will be limited to just over 44,000 spectators rather than the 62,000-plus that would be possible if the relevant licences and permits for the next phase had been approved.
The underlying cause of the delay is that Barça has not yet submitted all the documentation required to obtain the 1C licence — a complex but necessary bureaucratic process. In addition, a misunderstanding arose at the latest meeting between the parties over issues encountered when spectators were leaving the stadium: several exits became congested and bottlenecks formed in certain sections.
Technical advisers recommended opening all gates, while the club felt that measure was unnecessary because it did not have enough staff to manage so many access points. A few days later the matter was clarified when technicians said they meant gates should not be padlocked, rather than being left fully open.
In any case, the episode highlighted coordination problems among the different parties, which are delaying the move to the next phase indefinitely.
At present the club is focused on securing the 1C permit in time for the match against Villarreal on 28 February. That is important not only to satisfy club members — especially with elections approaching — but also for financial reasons: for every match played with capacity limited to around 44,000 spectators, the club loses between €1–1.5 million in revenue.
To obtain approval Barcelona will need clearance from City Council technicians, the Fire Brigade, Civil Protection, the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Guardia Urbana.
