clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Imagining What a New D.C. United Stadium Can Be: A Tour of Camp Nou

D.C. United's new Buzzard Point stadium won't be Camp Nou, but it can incorporate some of the best elements from Europe's largest stadium. Take a photo tour of Barcelona's hallowed ground with Black and Red United and get some ideas of features you'd like to see at Buzzard Point in a few short years.

By stephen.whiting
  • A D.C. United fan at Camp Nou.
  • Camp Nou is an easy 3/4 mile walk from several subway stops.
  • Barcelona is a fantastic walking city.
  • Walking by the stadium to the entrance of the Camp Nou tour.
  • FC Barcelona is there for its fans.
  • Just above the white gates all the way around the stadium are plaques commemorating various teams and individual games.
  • In 1999, he was voted the best FC Barcelona player ever. Et tu, Messi?
  • This is truly a huge store, and it's all FC Barcelona all the time.
  • This picture shows both the upstairs and downstairs of the megastore. Stadium style seating lines the stairs going down.
  • Trinkets of every kind are available with some kind of FC Barcelona logo.
  • I think that's wine on the bottom shelf.
  • The single most bizarre item in the store. There was one of these figures for each player. What does it mean?
  • Jerseys. Lots of jerseys.
  • Barcelona's away jersey looks like the Catalan flag--apparently an overtly political statement.
  • FC Barcelona's four values were on display throughout Camp Nou.
  • Here are FC Barcelona's UEFA Champions League Cups.
  • Barcelona holds four European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles. They've come in second three times. We didn't see the second place silverware.
  • Looking down on the Champions League trophies.
  • This is just one of the many trophy cases in the FC Barcelona museum.
  • This was one of the oldest trophy we saw in the case--110 years old.
  • FIFA Club World Cup.
  • Just one small part of the team's history displayed in pictures.
  • The museum displays hundreds of mementos from the team's history.
  • Who knew #44 was a Barca fan?
  • Several pairs of Messi's cleats are on display marking significant goals.
  • There was a sign near this picture that said, "Greatest Player Ever."
  • One of Messi's four Ballon d'Or trophies.
  • One of Messi's three European Golden Shoe awards.
  • "More than a club"
  • Flea-inspired art.
  • Entrance to the FC Barcelona media room.
  • Visitors' Locker Room
  • This is the visitors' locker room. It's amazing the reverence FC Barcelona shows for the game of soccer. The video monitors show the great opponents who have played at Camp Nou.
  • The whirl pool in the visitors' locker room.
  • Kasey Keller was the only American I saw on the list of great visiting players at Camp Nou. You can see his pic below.
  • Hallway heading out of the visitors' locker room.
  • The famous tunnel heading to the Camp Nou pitch. The team chapel is on the right.
  • Heading toward the team chapel.
  • The FC Barcelona team chapel.
  • These stairs lead up the Camp Nou pitch.
  • Looking back up toward the chapel (the door on the left).
  • They were preparing for a concert at Camp Nou (a Catalonia independence concert)
  • Field level.
  • "More than a club"
  • Heading toward the press box.
  • Camp Nou press box.
  • Looking back from the stadium to the megastore facility.
  • This was a huge touch screen table that several people could use at once to bring up videos, photos, and articles from the club's history.
  • This may be the coolest room at Camp Nou. The individual matchbox-size screens in the foreground contain a photo of every player to ever wear the FC Barcelona uniform. In the background are dozens of video screens containing actual fans cheering on the team.
  • Videos of great moments in Barcelona club history.
  • Each video screen shows a player from FC Barcelona's history.
  • Images of great stadia around the world.
  • In case you missed the chance to buy a jersey on the way into the museum, you get a chance again on the way out.

I am not a Barcelona fan, but I do love good soccer and its history. So, this summer when I found myself in Barcelona on a trip to Europe, I wanted to see Camp Nou, one of the true hallowed grounds of world soccer. Unfortunately, the La Liga season was already over so seeing a game wasn't an option, but we were able to take a tour of Camp Nou. Now this isn't the kind of tour where you meet at a chained gate at a specific time to be let in for a quick view of the field by a team intern. No, the Camp Nou tour is a professional and pricey extravaganza known as the Camp Nou Experience. It cost ~$31 per adult, but it was worth every penny/euro/doubloon we paid.

As a D.C. United fan, I visited Camp Nou with an eye toward identifying some things I'd like to see adopted into the Black-and-Red's new Buzzard Point stadium. Of course, the Buzzard Point stadium will only have about a quarter of Camp Nou's capacity, and it won't hold four UEFA Champions League trophies like Camp Nou does (but then again, Camp Nou doesn't have four MLS Cups either!). But there are some elements, some best practices if you will, I'd like to see included in D.C. United's new stadium:

1. Respect for the game, respect for D.C. United's history, and respect for the fans. It's hard to describe, but Camp Nou is dripping with respect and class. Walk into the visiting team's locker room, and there are video displays scrolling through images of the greatest soccer players that have come to Camp Nou to take on Barcelona (click through the gallery above to find out which American player pops up on those displays alongside other legendary players). While we don't speak Catalan, and only limited Spanish, nowhere did we see jokes, slanders, or slurs directed toward Barcelona's rivals--including Real Madrid. I'm sure Barcelona fans enjoy going back and forth with Real fans, but that's not evident during the tour of Camp Nou--only respect. I like how the club apparently leaves the overt displays of those rivalries to their fans. All of Camp Nou is about Barcelona and its history, to include its most memorable matches and moments, its greatest opponents, and the storied locations at which they've played. And finally, the amazing respect Barcelona shows for their fans by incorporating them into the museum displays is tremendous. D.C. United is America's (and Canada's) most accomplished club and this quality of respect for the game, the club, its history, and its fans should be a major part of Buzzard Point.

2. A first-class museum that highlights the team's accomplishments and engages its fans. Camp Nou's museum is a tribute to the history and achievements of FC Barcelona. Buzzard Point stadium will be space constrained, so any D.C. United museum there won't be nearly the size of Camp Nou's, but here's hoping that space will be carved out somewhere in the new stadium for an awesome place to display (and tell the story of) the team's 13 major trophies and its history. While the high school-esque trophy cases currently on the upper floors of RFK Stadium have a certain charm, I want to see that silverware in a purpose-built facility honoring those victories. Let's also hope that the team brings to life its history in the new stadium in a multi-media way that will allow old and new fans alike to relive the club's great moments. What was it like when Eddie Pope scored the golden goal in a driving rain storm to win the first MLS Cup against the LA Galaxy? How did a team earn both the Wooden Spoon and the US Open Cup in the same year? It's painfully clear now how it happened, but in the future the story should be told in a museum on Buzzard Point.

3. A purpose-built team store. I'm a fan of D.C. United's current team store. I've always received good customer service there, and they have a varied selection, but it is very cramped on game day. In the new stadium, let's build a bigger store with D.C. United elements and history designed into it from the beginning.

If you've never been to Camp Nou, flip through the gallery above. There's a caption on most of the pictures explaining what's being shown. What would you like to see incorporated into the new D.C. United stadium?

Photos by Tammy Whiting.

<h4>More from Black And Red United:</h4>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.blackandredunited.com/mls/2013/11/2/5056926/mls-playoffs-conference-semifinals-revolution-sporting-sounders-timbers-dynamo-red-bulls-galaxy-rsl?utm_source=blackandredunited&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">MLS Playoffs: Conference Semifinals TV Schedule, Predictions & Open Thread</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.blackandredunited.com/dc-united-fan-fiction-fun/2013/11/1/5055578/dc-united-volkswagen-jersey-sponsor-replacement-allstate-geico-att-verizon-american-airlines-adidas?utm_source=blackandredunited&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">Friday Afternoon Distraction: What shirt sponsor would you want to see if Volkswagen and D.C. United split?</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.blackandredunited.com/offseason-of-our-discontent/2013/11/1/5054576/dc-united-syamsir-alam-released-cut-waived-indonesia-cs-vise?utm_source=blackandredunited&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">D.C. United declines their option on Syamsir Alam</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.blackandredunited.com/offseason-of-our-discontent/2013/11/1/5045890/dc-united-cake-or-death-bill-hamid?utm_source=blackandredunited&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">Cake or Death? Turning our attention to homegrown #1 Bill Hamid</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.blackandredunited.com/mls/2013/11/1/5049296/mls-playoffs-2013-playoff-envy-seattle-sounders-vs-colorado-rapids-houston-dynamo-vs-montreal-impact?utm_source=blackandredunited&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">Playoff Envy: Seattle Sounders Top Colorado Rapids, Houston Dynamo Crush Montreal Impact</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.blackandredunited.com/benny-awards/2013/10/31/5050020/richie-award-dc-united-most-underrated-player?utm_source=blackandredunited&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">The Richie Award, for D.C. United's most underrated player of the year</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.blackandredunited.com/offseason-of-our-discontent/2013/10/31/5048638/dc-united-trade-targets-defense-futty-danso-ike-opara-ryan-miller?utm_source=blackandredunited&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">D.C. United Trade Targets - Possible defensive pick-ups within the league</a></li>

</ul>

Next Up In D.C. United Stadium News