Alki David has stepped forward to suggest that Nou Camp could be renamed Swissx Stadium after his wellness-focused CBD company
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When Futbol Club Barcelona announced last week that it was planning to sell naming rights to its stadium and donate the revenue to fighting COVID-19, Alki David stepped forward to suggest that Nou Camp could be renamed Swissx Stadium after his wellness-focused CBD company.
David is a Greek billionaire whose family made its fortune through its Coca-Cola bottling plants. He is also known as a business partner of former boxer Mike Tyson, who runs his own cannabis business called Tyson Ranch.
According to BBC Sport, David said of buying Camp Nou’s naming rights: “It’s something we’ve specifically been looking for to adopt in our company and it seemed like an amazing idea.
“My company is a cannabis company and Spain has a long tradition within the European Uunion as being a leader or a liberal in the road towards legalisation, so it’s evolved quite naturally.”
In Spain, the sale and importation of any quantity of cannabis is a criminal offence, punishable by jail time. Purchase, possession, and consumption of cannabis in a public place is punishable by a fine and confiscation of the product. Consumption and cultivation by adults in a private space, however, is legal.
In 2017, FC Barcelona’s home region of Catalonia legalized the cultivation, consumption, and distribution of cannabis for members of designated non-profit “cannabis clubs”.
Asked by BBC Sports if he thought that association with a cannabis company could be a risk to the FC Barcelona’s reputation, David said “That remains to be seen. The world is born on ideas.”
