Joan Laporta: 'Barça Vision will help us build the Barça Digital Space and strengthen the sense of belonging'
FC Barcelona have presented Barça Vision, the platform through which the Club aims to unify its Web3, NFT and metaverse initiatives, created to revolutionise the Barça fan experience via ground-breaking innovative technologies. Previously under the brand, Bridgeburg Invest, a Barça Studios subsidiary, this new platform will be a vital part of the Club's strategy for building the Barça Digital Space. Barça want to bring their fans from around the world together into a virtual community, and reach out to new audiences from the Alpha, Z, and Millennial generations.
Barça Vision was presented during an event held in the immersive room in the recently inaugurated new Museum, with participation from FC Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, and Joan Moya, the managing director of Barça Vision. Members of the Board of Directors and CCMA president Rosa Romà were also in attendance.
Joan Moya: “Barça will have valuable digital assets”
“Barça Vision is two things - a brand and a project. A brand chosen by Barça to meet the challenge of launching the Barça digital space to market. And it is a project borne out of an idea conceived in 2022. A lot of people in the Club have really invested into it. Jordi Mompart is the heart and soul of Barça Vision, which aims to bring Barça to fans around the world. We are moving towards virtual reality”, explained Joan Moya.
“We launched an NFT featuring Johan Cruyff in a very high-profile manner in July 2022. We announced it in Times Square while Barça were on tour, and then it was put up for auction. Barça will have valuable digital assets. We have masterpiece number 2 on the way. It will be special and different to the one before, but also very representative of today's Barça. We are also working on a project to create virtual versions of the spaces in the old Stadium, because we want the old Camp Nou to remain immortal, to be in the metaverse. The same goes for the new Camp Nou and Espai Barça as a whole”, added the managing director of Barça Vision.
Joan Laporta: “We want sporting excellence and to guarantee the Club is financially sustainable”
“Barça Vision is a content platform that will help us build the Barça Digital Space and bring together FC Barcelona fans from around the world into a digital community, strengthening the sense of belonging to the institution”, stated Joan Laporta. He went on to outline the value of Barça Vision from a more financial and value-based standpoint for the Barça brand, stating “FC Barcelona's main aim is to win trophies to bring back the joy to FC Barcelona supporters, while also being duty-bound to look for the best ways to make the most of its strong and valuable brand in financial terms. The Board of Directors are committed to maintaining a balance between sporting excellence and guaranteeing financial sustainability. This is why the Club has the highest standards when it comes to showing leadership regarding new digital opportunities”.
Joan Laporta concluded his speech by stating that “with Barça Vision, the Club is moving its strategy for growing the digital business forward, which we are convinced will have a strong positive impact on the institution's finances. The best club in the world will now be able to say it is the best digital club in the world from now on”.
A leading Club in the digital domain
Barça is the leading sports club in the digital domain, and for the second consecutive year in 2022, generated more engagement with its fans worldwide (over 1.4 billion interactions), while establishing itself as the most followed sporting institution on social networks with over 400 million followers. From this leading position, the Club wants to press on, reaching out further to fans, getting to know them better, and offering new products and services. Barça Vision will explore emerging technologies as part of its mission to promote a vibrant and interactive digital community around all things FC Barcelona that every fan worldwide can access.
Another digital step forward
On creating Barça Vision, the Club is taking another step forward into the digital domain, where consumption habits, particularly among the younger generations, mean having to compete with major corporations and content platforms, as sport has clearly evolved into another form of entertainment. It is also in line with the development of the Club's model for earning income, whereby digital business will become one of Barça's main sources of income over the coming years.
The Club is working to create an integrated ecosystem of Barça products, services and content to offer the best experiences to all its fans, regardless of their location and whether or not they visit the Stadium.