Why FC Barcelona can't fill the Camp Nou

The Camp Nou is undoubtedly one of the most majestic and magnificent stadiums in the entire footballing world. With a seating capacity of 99,354, it is the largest stadium in the world in terms of seating capacity, even ahead of the Santiago Bernabeu and the Old Trafford.

One would expect that Barcelona, being the footballing giant they are, would quite easily sell out their tickets. But this isn't so. The average attendance is only around 77,400, and though most clubs in the world would struggle to even attract these numbers, it is but natural to ask why the stadium isn't sold out.

Aerial view of the Nou Camp

There are several reasons for poor attendance. The Camp Nou is only covered by a roof in one stand, so any bad weather causes the attendance to plummet. A typical case of this was seen in the semi-final of Copa Del Rey against Valencia last year when the attendance hit rock bottom at 51,000.

Secondly, Barcelona has been a hub for Catalan Heritage for years, but there have been no efforts to improve on tourism or attract foreign crowds. In fact, two of the biggest tourist attractions in Barcelona is the Camp Nou and the Barca museum itself. To make matters worse, the terror attacks at Barcelona in 2017 led the tourist inflow to further plummet down.

Another major factor is the pricing of tickets. The cheapest tickets at the Nou Camp come at around 24 euros, but that's only against freshly promoted teams like Huesca. Any mid table team will cost you around 54 euros, while top tier games cost nothing less than 70 euros. UCL tickets are exorbitantly priced. While this is affordable to most of the Western world, it restricts their Asian Market to a huge extent.

To cause further problems for tourists, La Liga doesn't announce the dates and time of kickoff until 4 weeks before the game. This is highly uncomfortable for foreign fans, who prefer to book their tickets much in advance

Though most of the above reasons hold good for tourists and outsiders, the biggest culprits are undoubtedly the season ticket holders, who show up in very poor numbers. It could be due to a vast multitude of reasons, timing of the game, lack of interest, weather etc, but the fact stands that they are the primary reason for empty stands.

Bartomeu has opened up about a scheduled renovation, in terms of extending the shelter, adding lifts and escalators, and this should definitely pump up the audience to an extent.

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