LIGA – Does FC Barcelona take risks for the future?

The rescue operation has been activated. In dire financial straits after years of disastrous management, FC Barcelona has moved up a gear in recent weeks. After obtaining the agreement of his socios in mid-June, the club formalized the sale of 49.9% of its commercial company (Barça Licensing Merchandising) and the authorization to transfer up to 25% of its TV rights for a maximum period of 25 years. The goal ? Replenish its coffers.

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The sale of his commercial company could thus bring in between 200 and 300 million. And the American fund Sixth Street has already bought 10% of Catalan TV rights for around 207.5 million euros while Barca hope to sell the remaining 15% for €400m before July 17, according to Mundo Deportivo. Tidy sums, able to give a little smile to the accountants of a club in the grip of significant financial difficulties and indebted to more than 1.3 billion euros this winter.

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With these sales, Barca solve their short-term worries

However, these operations leave some questions unanswered and clouds in the Barcelona sky, which has not been very reassuring in recent years. “I hope the urgency and the lack of a plan will not make us make mistakes that we will later pay dearly“, has warned in Marca Victor Font, a former candidate for the presidency of Barça who nevertheless welcomes the sale of TV rights. A threat not very surprising because there is reason to wonder about what is currently happening in the Catalan capital.

In the short term, FC Barcelona certainly offers itself the possibility of breathing a little better. But what about the long term? “It’s not a good operation but Barca have no choice“, answers us Ivan Cabeza, Spanish specialist in sports economics and managing partner at Laudem Partners. “With these sales, FC Barcelona solves its short-term worries. It must compensate for the losses generated by mismanagement and the crisis linked to Covid-19. The club also has the need to comply with the financial requirements imposed and the need to recruit without constraints to renew its workforce.“.

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In the red with this colossal debt and its payroll in the form of a ball, FC Barcelona cannot afford to remain idle. Joan Laporta, the president of the Blaugrana, is back to the wall with catastrophic balance sheets. He therefore activated these economic levers to get his head above water by generating “extraordinary” income. But by selling these assets, doesn’t FC Barcelona risk mortgaging its future by depriving itself of regular income in a few years? “It will limit the club if they don’t get it right as there is little room for error“, warns Ivan Cabeza.

However, FC Barcelona has a chance in all of this: its financial power. We are not talking about just any club. But from a world-famous institution which was able to generate the record sum of 840 million euros in revenue for the 2018-2019 financial year, the season before the pandemic. And even if they fell to the fifth rank of football clubs that generate the most revenue in 2020-2021 according to Deloitte (582 million), the Blaugrana have a “very important ability to generate income” said the Spanish economist, who from time to time looks at the situation of Barça for El Confidential or El Mundo.

Barça’s future challenge not to see its model questioned

However, after this summer and these strong decisions, the Catalan club will have to reinvent itself. And find other resources to compensate for the loss of income related to these various transfers. “The challenge is going to be to recover the future revenue that Barca give up in these operations. So they will have to recover revenue in other ways, be inspired in the composition of the squad and contain expenses.“, announces Ivan Cabeza. New technologies or even future economic possibilities linked to the renovation of the Camp Nou, whose work is scheduled to end during the 2025-26 season, are possible avenues for this.

However, FC Barcelona is walking on eggshells. A risky new management or a failed financial bet could also prove catastrophic. And force Barça to change in depth. “It is true that the club cannot fail, because otherwise the model of ownership of the club (note: with the socios) is in dangerr”, announces Ivan Cabeza. Which would be a real earthquake in Catalonia.

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