FC Barcelona is probably the club that has come out of the pandemic worst among the greats of Europe. A sports policy taken to the economic limit with Bartomeu, together with the impact of Covid-19 on the business and the strong cleaning of Laporta’s balance sheet, left a hole of 688 million euros in losses before taxes in two years. The restructuring began last year, but the recovery is not only about cutting spending. A lot of extraordinary income is needed, the sale of BLM, Barça Studios and part of the television rights is the lesser evil.
The sale of sports assets (soccer players, go) was the ordinary route, but also the one that remains most competitive and the one that can have a greater impact on the generation of future income. Also the one that socially could have passed a higher bill. In addition, in the case of Studios and BLM, I subscribe to what was commented by the vice president, Eduard Romeu, they are partial sales that make sense even in a good economic timesince the entry of an industrial partner can maximize the value of both projects.
The judgment on whether they have been good or bad operations will have to wait until the conditions of each of them are specified and can be compared with the alternatives that have been on the table for a year. The reasons for rushing fifteen days after the accounting close have not been clear, especially knowing that the losses for 2021-2022 may go to more than 150 million and this was known since January.
✅ The ???????????????????????????????? approves by absolute majority the mechanisms that will revive the economy
▶Cession of a minority part of the BLM operation
▶ Transfer of up to 25% of the income for the exploitation of the TV rights of the League???? https://t.co/GW79e0vws1 pic.twitter.com/02qPGOprlh
– FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) June 16, 2022
In fact, it was not until this Monday that a first exclusivity agreement was signed with an investment firm based in the United Kingdom to try to close the sale of a first 10% of television rights. Nobody has denied what is a fact, that before the board of directors on May 31, the principle of agreement and the operation that had been negotiated was with LaLiga and CVC for the part of audiovisual rights and the Investindustrial-Fanatics consortium for the retail. For Barça Studios, which should give 50 million this year, there is nothing.
Now it’s time to look for alternatives that have not emerged throughout the year in just a month and a half. Hopefully they arise and allow the generation of the necessary resources so that Barça’s Formula 1 returns to fuelr. That in the short term. In the middle, I hope that it does not hide the still necessary reduction in the wage bill and put costs at the same level as income. Gambling everything every year on the transfer market was the big mistake.
Public-private collaboration in the Copa América
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Barcelona managed to pass Malaga on the right to stay the next edition of the America’s Cup sailing, and now we know that it was a combination of two factors. The first, that of the private initiative through Barcelona Global, whose member companies have secured guarantees for 25 million euros that will be executed in the event that the organization fails to generate that money through sponsorships and other rights. The second, and more important, is the alliance between the Generalitat and the Government to contribute 15 million euros each to the budget, which in total will amount to 70 million euros. The rest will be provided by Barcelona City Council (10 million) and the Provincial Council (5 million).
The challenge now is enormous, since it is about make economic sense of this investment in the sea so that his legacy lives on. It is the only recipe to combat those who still see this type of bet as a waste of public money, without taking into account the economy that they mobilize with their own activity during the competition and the media impact that, in this case, it will have for the Catalan coast . In any case, it is good news that Catalonia is bidding again for this type of appointment.