October 1 – Following an extraordinary meeting of Barcelona’s directors, the club are reporting a loss of €91 million for the 2023/24 financial year, though maintain that it is still moving financially towards profitability as it prepares for a return to its revamped Nou Camp Stadium.
The club blamed the bulk of the loss to the failed sell-off of its digital media business, Barca Vision, which left the club writing off €141 million. The clubs said the losses were “due to non-payment by some of the investment partners involved”.
The club said it had a new plan for the digital business and that it “remains confident in its future viability and capacities, with a business plan in place that should generate recurring revenue in the near future.”
Despite this setback, the club said it had reversed the financial decline of recent years and had an operational profit.
This was despite having to play at the smaller capacity Estadi Olímpic which has cost the club year-on-year €100 million.
High points for the club were a rise in sponsorship revenue to a record €210 million alongside record turnover by its merchandising subsidiary BLM, of nearly €110 million.
Player sales including the departures of Dembélé, Kessie, Nico, Abde, Chadi and Marc Guiu generated more than €80 million.
Perhaps most importantly for the club was a massive reduction of €170 million in its wage bill to €500 million.
The club’s imperious women’s team contributed €600,000 in profit, the first time it has made a financially positive contribution.
“This result serves as the foundation to restore positive cash flows, enabling the club to meet both current and historic payments, make necessary sporting and non-sporting investments, and place it in the optimal position to reduce the debt once the new Spotify Camp Nou is fully operational,” said a club statement.
In the 2022/23 financial year the club posted €1.165 billion of revenue and its budget forecast €831 million for 2023/24. The club hasn’t given a figure for its total revenue, but it clearly didn’t hit that budget.
For 2024/25 the club is forecasting an operating profit of €5 million “ensuring a positive EBITDA rating, which will lay the foundations for the 2025/26 season, when the new structure for generating revenue out of the redeveloped Spotify Camp Nou will be fully operational.”
A return to the new Camp Nou can’t come soon enough for the club’s finances. A long run deep into the Champions League wouldn’t hurt either.
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