Camp Nou or Nou Camp? Has the Spotify name change put the argument to rest?

FC Barcelona have moved away from tradition with a sponsor for their hallowed stadium

Barcelona supporters wearing Lionel Messi shirts watch the game from the stands during the Liga match between Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano at Camp Nou on March 8, 2015 in Barcelona, Spain. Getty Images

Photographers gather around the halfway line as Johan Cruyff waves farewell to the fans before his final game for Barcelona against former club Ajax on 28th May 1978 at the Camp Nou football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. Getty Images

Diego Armando Maradona, Allan Simonsen and Bernd Schuster, at the presentation of the Barcelona squad for the 1982-1983 season, held at the Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain, on July 28, 1982. Getty Images

Thousands of balloons are released at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, at the start of the Fifa World Cup, 14th June 1982. Getty Images

Steve Bruce leads Manchester United onto the pitch before the European Cup match against Barcelona at the Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, 1994. Barcelona won the match 4-0. Getty Images

Bobby Robson is presented as the Barcelona manager in 1996 at the Camp Nou Stadium. Getty Images

Manchester United fans celebrate victory in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich in the Camp Nou Stadium in 1999. Getty Images

Ronaldinho waves to the fans inside Camp Nou during his unveiling as a Barcelona player on July 21, 2003. Getty Images

Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard speaks with World Selection Team's coach Johan Cruyff before a friendly football match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, 30 November 2004. AFP

Barcelona supporters display a huge banner inside Camp Nou to thank Xavi Hernandez for his career. EPA

Fans pay homage inside Camp Nou to Johan Cruyff, prior to the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid. EPA

Catalan Pro-Independence flags are waved inside the Camp Nou as Lionel Messi plays in a match between Barcelona and Eibar on September 19, 2017. Getty Images

Fans pay tribute to midfielder Andres Iniesta during his last game for Barcelona, prior the Liga match between Barcelona and Real Sociedad at Camp Nou stadium in Madrid, Spain, 20 May 2018. EPA

Barcelona fans show their support prior to the Liga match between Barcelona and Real Madrid at Camp Nou on May 6, 2018. Getty Images

General view of the Camp Nou stadium before the Spanish LaLiga soccer match between FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, in Barcelona, Spain, 06 April 2019. EPA

A general view of the tifo display before the UEFA Champions League Semi Final first leg match between Barcelona and Liverpool at the Nou Camp on May 01, 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. Getty Images

View of the facade of Camp Nou stadium picturing a collage of Barcelona players Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, Frenkie De Jong, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Antoine Griezmann, made with photos shared by fans from worldwide. EPA

A general view outside the Camp Nou stadium prior to the Liga match between Barcelona and Valencia on December 19, 2020. Getty Images

General view of the action during the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid at Camp Nou on October 24, 2021. Getty Images

A fan waves a Barcelona flag as he arrives at the Camp Nou stadium prior to the Champions League match between Barcelona and Dinamo Kiev on October 20, 2021. Getty Images

The times. They are a-changin'.

Bob Dylan's 1964 folk track will be low down on the list of a go-to song for most Barcelona fans who will soon probably be taking advantage of a sweet Spotify premium deal to celebrate a much-needed cash injection.

The Catalan giants had long prided themselves on being sponsorless, but to quote Dylan: "The slow one now, will later be fast. As the present now, will later be past."

But renaming the historic old Camp Nou? That's akin to giving the Sagrada Familia a "brought to you by" tagline - or Parc Guell having an elongated prefix. It's seeping Americanisation in football and it's not on.

However, it does answer a lingering question - particularly for native English speakers.

Camp Nou or Nou Camp?

Naming it the Spotify Camp Nou - officially - means that most football fans in England can end their obsession with calling it the Nou Camp.

A little historical look on Google Trends shows the majority of the world calls it Camp Nou with notable exceptions in Turkey, the UK, Vietnam, Slovakia and Ireland.

But there is hope on the horizon. In the past day, search conventions around Camp Nou/Nou Camp are changing. In Ireland, 64 per cent of users typed in Camp Nou. In the UK that split was 66-34 per cent. In Turkey, the split is 70-30 per cent.

Will fans adopt the Spotify name change?

There are certainly some breakout searches on Google Trends but in the long run it is not likely.

Unlike Americans who love to attend basketball fixtures at the Smoothie King Center, adopting branded stadium names in parlance has worked well mainly in new-builds. Arsenal's The Emirates Stadium is so strong you have to Google what the ground's formal name was (Ashburton Grove).

Sometimes they work too well when the eventual naming rights expire. Coventry City fans still call their now two-decade-old stadium the Ricoh, despite it now being The Coventry Building Society Stadium. Bolton Wanderers' stadium is still pretty much "The Reebok".

Why have Barcelona gone all-in with Spotify?

Up until 1982, their famous blaugrana shirt didn't even have a supplier let alone a shirt sponsor front and centre. But that changed with an altruistic deal with the UN children's agency Unicef in 2006. Unicef remains a secondary shirt sponsor to this day.

Another non-financial sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation followed for a couple of seasons. Then, in 2013, Barca received their first monetary sponsor with Qatar Airways - a deal estimated to be worth about €170 million over four years. Since 2017 Barca have been sponsored by Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten for about €55m a year. The club also has a secondary shirt sponsor by Turkish appliance maker Beko.

Barca have not confirmed how much the Spotify sponsorship deal is worth although reports suggest the club could earn up to €300 million ($328.6 million) over the four years. A tidy amount.

But this pales in comparison with English clubs such as Manchester United who enjoyed a $559m deal with Chevrolet over seven years - and they didn't have to prefix Old Trafford.

“This partnership will allow us to continue to bring the club closer to its fans and make them feel, even more, part of the Barca family," says President Joan Laporta.

Perhaps. But recently at the Catalan club Money's Too Tight (To Mention).