October 25 – Barcelona are projecting revenue for the 2023/24 season to hit €859 million generating post-tax profits of about €11 million.
For the 2022/23 season the club reported a profit of €304 million, €30 million more than forecast. Even so, the club still had an overall operating loss of €200 million for the year.
VP of finance Eduard Romeu said: “The objective (for 2023/23) was to cover the hold, stop the bleeding and we have done that, but to do so we have had to take some tough and painful decisions. Once achieved, (looking forward to) this season, without any extraordinary operations, we will able to avoid losing money.”
Even so, Barca still has debt of about €1.2 billion and construction costs of €1.5 billion for the Espai Barca project that will see the renovation of their Camp Nou stadium.
Romeu said that keeping the debt to under €1.2 billion kept the club from going into negative equity which, he emphasised “was important for the peace of mind of members; for credibility and solvency in front of investors who have had confidence in us; and, on the sporting side, to revert to a normal fair play situation.”
For the current season Barca expects to remain financially in the black despite reduced income due to the move to the Estadi Olímpic while the Camp Nou is being developed. Projected increases in commercial income to €378 million (up from €351 million) and from media to €245 million (up from €215 million), are significant contributors. Media income will be dictated by how deep the club runs in the Champions League.
The biggest impact on profitablility will be the 27% reduction in the player wage bill.
Reflecting on where the club was and its current position, president Joan Laporta said: “There was a debt of €1.3 billion and most of the debt was short term. There was negative equity [debts exceeding assets] of €455 million.
“In any private company they would have started with bankruptcy proceedings. We made brave decisions and we saved the club from tragedy.”
However, Barca never seems to be far from controversy or ‘tragedy’. The ongoing investigation into the Negreira case and the ‘secret agreement’ that saw Barca pay money to former referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira in an alleged attempt to influence results, has now wrapped Laporta into the proceedings and still looms over the club. That case has still to go before the Spanish courts. If Barca lose there will inevitably be a significant impact on their improved but still fragile finances.
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