http://penyes.fcbarcelona.com/detail/article/penya-membership-card-2016
Down at bottom.about loyalty reward
Is there any way to become a virtual socio of Barça ?
- Thread starter Vlom
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http://penyes.fcbarcelona.com/detail/article/penya-membership-card-2016
Down at bottom.about loyalty reward
eduardmanas
New member
Hi guys,
As it has already been said, you can become a FCB soci by signing up for the Commitment Card during 3 years. Needless to say, it is a real pain and requires a marathon-like commitment, as you need to pay €137 + travel to Barcelona between 1st June and 30th October every year, and you get next to nothing in return.
http://www.fcbarcelona.com/members/fidelity-card/detail/card/commitment-card
Why on earth is the club closed to new memberships???
I know few of you have mentioned that the club is "missing out on a lot of money". And this is a fair point. Imagine, half a million socis each paying €176 equates to a sizeable €88m.
This is however not about money. The rationale of closing membership is about protecting the club integrity.
Before I dive into the detail, bear in mind that FCB belongs to its members. This effectively means each soci owns a share on the club, with equal voting rights. The soci will also vote with their interest and that of the club in mind. And often, profit or having a lot of cash in the bank is not high on the agenda.
First, in theory, a very rich person could buy the club by signing up 200000 people. He would pay their membership fees, then get them to vote for him to be elected as president, and then get them to change the statutes to make him the owner. At €176 per soci, this pretty much means you could buy be best club in the world for under €40m. This of course is just theoretical, as I am sure there would be plenty of legal challenges left, right and center. But it is one of the concerns given at the time.
Another reason given at the time was the "Ibramovic effect". When Ibramovic joined FCB, over 1000 Swedish joined FCB. After Ibra left, over 1000 Swedish didn't renew their FCB membership. Were they really FCB supporters or just Ibra supporters? The board and many socis considered that the privilege of owning a share of the club should be reserved to committed FCB supporters.
Finally, another reason was due to stadium capacity. Camp Nou has limited seating capacity, albeit being the biggest stadium in Europe. Having a season ticket waiting list of 50-100k people would create a lot of internal tensions. Also, if the number of socis waiting for season tickets is higher than socis holding season tickets, in theory, it is possible that the former group can force changes to the season ticket rules. As you can imagine, existing season ticket holders will try to ensure this does not happen.
Hope this helps!
As it has already been said, you can become a FCB soci by signing up for the Commitment Card during 3 years. Needless to say, it is a real pain and requires a marathon-like commitment, as you need to pay €137 + travel to Barcelona between 1st June and 30th October every year, and you get next to nothing in return.
http://www.fcbarcelona.com/members/fidelity-card/detail/card/commitment-card
Why on earth is the club closed to new memberships???
I know few of you have mentioned that the club is "missing out on a lot of money". And this is a fair point. Imagine, half a million socis each paying €176 equates to a sizeable €88m.
This is however not about money. The rationale of closing membership is about protecting the club integrity.
Before I dive into the detail, bear in mind that FCB belongs to its members. This effectively means each soci owns a share on the club, with equal voting rights. The soci will also vote with their interest and that of the club in mind. And often, profit or having a lot of cash in the bank is not high on the agenda.
First, in theory, a very rich person could buy the club by signing up 200000 people. He would pay their membership fees, then get them to vote for him to be elected as president, and then get them to change the statutes to make him the owner. At €176 per soci, this pretty much means you could buy be best club in the world for under €40m. This of course is just theoretical, as I am sure there would be plenty of legal challenges left, right and center. But it is one of the concerns given at the time.
Another reason given at the time was the "Ibramovic effect". When Ibramovic joined FCB, over 1000 Swedish joined FCB. After Ibra left, over 1000 Swedish didn't renew their FCB membership. Were they really FCB supporters or just Ibra supporters? The board and many socis considered that the privilege of owning a share of the club should be reserved to committed FCB supporters.
Finally, another reason was due to stadium capacity. Camp Nou has limited seating capacity, albeit being the biggest stadium in Europe. Having a season ticket waiting list of 50-100k people would create a lot of internal tensions. Also, if the number of socis waiting for season tickets is higher than socis holding season tickets, in theory, it is possible that the former group can force changes to the season ticket rules. As you can imagine, existing season ticket holders will try to ensure this does not happen.
Hope this helps!
eduardmanas
New member
FC Barcelona has also announced that you can become a FCB soci if you have been a member of an official penya (supporter's club) for the last 3 years.
http://penyes.fcbarcelona.com/detail/article/penya-membership-card-2016
However, before you all go joining an official penya in the hope to avoid the "Commitment Card hell", you need to know this is a one-off. We don't know if they will do it again in the future. It might happen, or it might not. Also, as you can imagine, this decision has created a lot of controversy with people that have already gone through the Commitment Card route.
Why has FC Barcelona decided to offer this to penyes?
(before I continue, let me just give you a disclaimer. I am the president of Penya Blaugrana London and a board member of the FCB World Penyes Federation)
FC Barcelona loves its official penyes. At its core, a penya is a socially active group of people with a common interest, i.e. FCB. Penyes promote the passion, values and history of FCB to the world. Also, the club sees penyes as their "ambassadors" to their local regions. When FCB socis travel abroad, they usually seek the local penya to watch the football match. When the team plays abroad, the local penya usually organises a pre-match supporter's meet-up. I personally have many friends all over Europe thanks to the penyes.
So basically, as a tribute to its penyes, the club has decided to reward penya members with over 3 years with the privilege to apply for full FCB membership.
If I may say, this forum has a lot of the traits of an online penya (the club no longer accepts online penyas by the way). You guys get together in the forums to discuss all things about Barça, and by doing so you also promote the passion for FCB and help increase FCB supporter's base. So good job and keep doing it!
Of course, if you want to get closer to the club and get to know many more FCB supporters alike, you could also consider joining an official penya. This link has all the official international penyes:
http://penyes.fcbarcelona.com/map-3-ambit
Eduard
http://penyes.fcbarcelona.com/detail/article/penya-membership-card-2016
However, before you all go joining an official penya in the hope to avoid the "Commitment Card hell", you need to know this is a one-off. We don't know if they will do it again in the future. It might happen, or it might not. Also, as you can imagine, this decision has created a lot of controversy with people that have already gone through the Commitment Card route.
Why has FC Barcelona decided to offer this to penyes?
(before I continue, let me just give you a disclaimer. I am the president of Penya Blaugrana London and a board member of the FCB World Penyes Federation)
FC Barcelona loves its official penyes. At its core, a penya is a socially active group of people with a common interest, i.e. FCB. Penyes promote the passion, values and history of FCB to the world. Also, the club sees penyes as their "ambassadors" to their local regions. When FCB socis travel abroad, they usually seek the local penya to watch the football match. When the team plays abroad, the local penya usually organises a pre-match supporter's meet-up. I personally have many friends all over Europe thanks to the penyes.
So basically, as a tribute to its penyes, the club has decided to reward penya members with over 3 years with the privilege to apply for full FCB membership.
If I may say, this forum has a lot of the traits of an online penya (the club no longer accepts online penyas by the way). You guys get together in the forums to discuss all things about Barça, and by doing so you also promote the passion for FCB and help increase FCB supporter's base. So good job and keep doing it!
Of course, if you want to get closer to the club and get to know many more FCB supporters alike, you could also consider joining an official penya. This link has all the official international penyes:
http://penyes.fcbarcelona.com/map-3-ambit
Eduard
[MENTION=19703]eduardmanas[/MENTION] - interesting posts. I should come and see you one of these days (I'm a soci living in London).
As of June 2015, there were about 142,000 socis (down from a peak of about 176,000 in 2011, around the time of the membership rule changes). With about 85,000 season ticket holders (my best guess - I've never seen the official number published), there still seems room for expansion, without endangering the status quo for season ticket holders. The Penya announcement seems to be a way to increase this number without opening the floodgates.
I'm interested to see how many new members this generates - do you have any idea how many would be eligible? The page you linked to claimed 150,000 penya members...
As of June 2015, there were about 142,000 socis (down from a peak of about 176,000 in 2011, around the time of the membership rule changes). With about 85,000 season ticket holders (my best guess - I've never seen the official number published), there still seems room for expansion, without endangering the status quo for season ticket holders. The Penya announcement seems to be a way to increase this number without opening the floodgates.
I'm interested to see how many new members this generates - do you have any idea how many would be eligible? The page you linked to claimed 150,000 penya members...
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Luftstalag14
Culé de Celestial Empire
Welcome Eduard! All those points you mentioned are very legit indeed.
It would be a dream for me to become a member one day.
It would be a dream for me to become a member one day.
eduardmanas
New member
150,000 is the current census. The figure of eligible members is going to be in the region 100-120k, as only people holding a penyista card for the last 3 years are eligible.
It will be interesting to see how many decide to take up the offer!
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