Barcelona Stakes $680 Million Soccer Empire on Catalonia
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Barcelona soccer club, the four-time European champion and epitome of Catalan pride, is supporting the region’s bid to hold a vote on breaking away from the rest of Spain at a potential cost to its business interests.
Fans are turning games at the club’s 99,000-seat Camp Nou stadium into nationalist rallies, some players joined demonstrations calling for a split, and the club itself signed up to a campaign demanding a referendum. Yet the club’s success, both in sporting and commercial terms, is built upon membership of the Spanish league and its historic rivalry with Real Madrid.