FC Barcelona Board calls for a referendum on April 5 on the stadium’s renovation

Barcelona (FCB).- The Board of Directors of FC Barcelona have called for a referendum, which will take place on April 5, to decide on the stadium’s renovation plan. Members of the Catalan sports club will vote on the Board’s project that includes a full renovation of the current stadium, the construction of a new Palau Blaugrana and the so-called Espai Barça. The initiative foresees adding a commercial ‘surname’ to the Camp Nou stadium in order to obtain additional revenue. The Board has issued the full details of the regulations governing the procedure for voting on the proposed project.

FC Barcelona published on Wednesday evening the following statement:

“By virtue of the stipulations of article 13 of the Club Statutes, the Board of Directors, at its session of February 24, 2014, decided to call upon the members for a referendum on the Proposed New Espai Barça, to be held on April 5, 2014.

This referendum will be governed by the following regulations:

1.- The conditions to exercise a vote are:

a) To be an adult and legally incapacitated.

b) To have been a member for at least one year.

c) Not to have had membership status suspended.

d) To be included in the current electoral roll in accordance with article 47 of the Statutes.

These requirements must be complied with on the day of the vote.

2.- To guarantee the monitoring, control and transparency of the process, a Referendum Board will be constituted, which shall comprise five members included in the census and that shall be designated by a draw to be held on the Club premises on Friday 28 February at 10.00 am. The draw shall be held by means of the computerised procedure regulated by article 26.5 of the Statutes, and must select five delegates and twenty-five substitutes. The roles of each member of the Referendum Board are obligatory, honorary and unpaid.

3.- On Sunday 2 March at 19.00 the Referendum Board shall be constituted.

4.- The Referendum Board must meet as many times as necessary in order to carry out its duties. The chairperson of the Referendum Board will be the longest-serving member and the secretary, who shall have the right to speak but not to vote, shall be the secretary of the Club’s Board of Directors, who must take minutes of all meetings, which should reflect all of the agreements reached. The minutes must be signed by the secretary, with the approval of the chairperson. Meetings of the Referendum Board must be called by the secretary.

Meetings of the Referendum Board shall be considered validly constituted when attended by at least three of its members. Agreements must be adopted by simple majority from among those present, and in the case of a tie, the chairperson shall have the casting vote. The members’ ombudsman must assist the Referendum Board in the exercise of its functions and has the right to attend its meetings, with the right to speak but not to vote.

5.-  Functions of the Referendum Board

a) To learn of and resolve any claims presented by members with respect to the census.

b) To interpret these regulations and applicable standards.

c) To learn of and resolve any incidents or claims presented by the members.

d) To designate interveners on the day of the vote.

e) To oversee and control the voting procedure in order to facilitate the casting of votes and ensure the transparency of said procedure.

f) To designate Club employees and third parties attending the voting procedure throughout the whole election day and posterior count.

g) To oversee the commencement and procedure of the count at each ballot box and produce an overall count of votes cast in the ballot boxes.

h) To promptly resolve any incidents, queries or claims that might arise on the day of the vote.

i) To issue minutes of the voting procedure and publish the result of the vote.

6.- From Monday 3 March to Friday 7 March, both inclusive, members shall be able to view the electoral roll in the Barcelona Supporter Services Office. The times for viewing are from 9.00 am to 8.00 pm. Claims relating to omissions or incorrect inclusions or for the rectification of errors must be made in writing and presented to the office of the Members’ Ombudsman and addressed to the Referendum Board before 9.00 pm on Friday 7 March. The Referendum Board will deal with all claims made within the three following days and on March 10 shall approve the definitive electoral roll.

7- From March 5 until the day before the vote, informative, promotional or communicational actions may be conducted in order to provide information about the proposal to members. April 4 shall be a day of reflection and no informative actions may be conducted.

8.- Saturday 5 April shall be the day of the vote, on the Camp Nou forecourt, from 9.00 am to 9.00 pm. Voters may vote for or against, or abstain from voting on, the motion "DO YOU ACCEPT THE PROPOSAL FOR THE NEW CAMP NOU, ESPAI BARÇA AND NEW PALAU BLAUGRANA?". The template for voting slips shall be approved by the Referendum Board.

9.- The ballot boxes shall be positioned in alphabetical order of members’ surnames and situated on the Camp Nou forecourt in the area stipulated by the Referendum Board. There must be one employee at each voting table, who shall act as chairperson for that table, as well as one delegate member who shall be designated by the Referendum Board.

10.- In order to cast a vote, members must be included in the definitive electoral roll and be able to accredit their identity by means of their national ID document or equivalent in the case of foreign nationals, or a valid passport or driving license.

The Referendum Board shall oversee and control the voting procedure, assisted by the members’ ombudsman.

11.- Once the voting period has expired, the Referendum Board shall commence the counting procedure. For this, only the members of each table, the interveners and accredited staff, as well as the members of the Referendum Board, may be present.

12.- Any votes that include no slip, are insincere, spoiled or manipulated shall be considered invalid. Votes shall also be invalid when they contain two different voting slips. Two slips showing the same vote equate to one single vote.

13.-The proposal shall be considered accepted if the number of votes for is greater than the number of votes against, regardless of the total number of votes cast. The Referendum Board will announce the result of the count and shall issue minutes detailing the number of votes for and against, as well as abstentions and spoiled votes.

14.- The articles in Section 4 of Chapter 4 of the Statutes shall be applicable to these regulations.

15.- Informative actions conducted in the month prior to the vote shall be all those promoted by the Club, addressed to its members, and shall include the following content:

• New Camp Nou with all of the features to ensure the highest categorisation recognised by UEFA with the following parameters: maximum capacity of 105,000 covered seats, construction of a new first tier, improvements to the second tier, and completion of the third tier in the Grandstand, North Goal and South Goal zones.

• New Palau Blaugrana on the current site of the Miniestadi, with maximum capacity of 12,000 seats, and annexed sport pavilion with 2,000 seats and ice rink.

• New Miniestadi on the site of the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper meeting the requirements of the LFP to compete in Division 2A.

• Underground parking with up to 5,000 places, in accordance with municipal mobility criteria.

• Services building for the Club’s complementary activities in accordance with current and future urban plans for the city.

• Development of the non-built-up areas for public use, all integrated into the Club facilities, the neighbourhood and the city.

• Overall investment of up to 600 million euros to be financed approximately by three parts as follows: 200 million euros from the commercial exploitation of the newly generated assets, including the ‘surname’ of the Camp Nou and the name of the future Palau Blaugrana, subject to approval by the Members Assembly; 200 million euros from a new syndicated loan to be signed once the current one signed in July 2010 has been fully amortised; and 200 million euros from resources generated by the Club’s ordinary activities.

• All of the work shall be undertaken while making a priority of maintaining all of sporting and Club activities in their current locations.

The present is communicated to inform all members of Futbol Club Barcelona.

Barcelona, 26 February 2014

The Secretary of the Board of Directors

Antoni Freixa i Martín”