It’s going to cost 495 million Euros to upgrade Camp Nou to one of the largest stadiums in the world, as the club’s directors voted against moving to a new venue. Instead, they’ve opted to expand their hallowed home.
Camp Nou’s already pretty huge -- we’re talking Top 12 stadiums by capacity in the world -- but the expansion will push it into the Top Five. The resolution still needs to be passed by the club’s 160,000+ owning members, but would take the capacity to around 105,000.
For comparison’s sake, Mexico’s giant Estadio Azteca is 105,000. Only four sports buildings in the world are larger: North Korea’s Rungnado May Day Stadium (150,000), India’s Salt Lake Stadium (120,000) and the homes for American college football’s Penn State and Michigan.
Camp Nou opened in 1957 and the new stadium simply would cost too much money for the board to deem it responsible spending. Adding to the positives of growing the building is that Barcelona won’t need a temporary home; Matches will be played during construction, which would take through 2021.
It would also add roofing to cover all spectators, but not the pitch.