Barcelona Reportedly Reject €300m Offer From Media Giant for Naming Rights to Camp Nou

Barcelona are reported to have rejected an offer of around €300m for the naming rights to Camp Nou, as negotiations with Barcelona-based media company Mediapro are said to have broken down. 

The club are reported to be looking to boost revenue streams after recent rumblings of financial issues facing the club, and one of the avenues Spanish outlet El Pais says they are exploring is that of temporarily leasing out the naming rights to their iconic stadium.

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If El Pais are to be believed, representatives from the club and Mediapro met four times in the summer, with current Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu present on one such occasion.

There are a number of reasons mentioned as to why the negotiations broke down, the first and most interesting of which being that after the club and Mediapro traded lawsuits with one another, Barca were reportedly prepared to re-start negotiations on the condition that Mediapro dropped complaints against former president Sandro Rosell. 

The company refused to do so, apparently leading to negotiations falling through, but the report also makes clear that Mediapro acknowledged that this was not the only reason for the breakdown in talks.

Barca's version of events, according to an unnamed source, is that negotiations fell through principally because the offer on the table from Mediapro failed to meet their demands, claiming 'it was not the offer Barcelona was looking for.' 

That doesn't entirely add up, however, as the club were seemingly prepared to accept €200m as part of a larger €600m investment in the club, with the rest being made up by a 'syndicated loan' and other income.

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While it's unclear, then, why the parties were unable to come to an agreement, Barca reportedly remain in negotiations with a number of other companies hoping to name the Nou Camp, where the club have won 15 La Liga titles in their 61 year tenure.