Cash coming: Barcelona ready to pull the economic levers to get back afloat

Erling Haaland has escaped because FC Barcelona could not compete financially with Manchester City's proposal and the deep changes the squad needs are at risk if Barça don’t make any changes that allow them to gain room for manoeuvre. Just with transfers and renewals of contracts at lower rates, it will not be enough. Urgent action is needed to be able to return to work without having their hands tied and with more freedom of movement. And that happens by activating the famous economic levers, the ace up the sleeve of Joan Laporta's board of directors to gain economic strength and peace of mind to work in the future.

With losses of 480 million euros and a forecast of adding another 100 because the budget approved by the board and the compromisers will not be met, the club's liabilities are dangerously close to 600 million. It is essential to gain liquidity to be able to manoeuvre, not only in the transfer market, but also in the day-to-day life at the club. With this scenario, the board of directors of FC Barcelona has got its act together and is about to be able to activate the three economic levers it has.

One is the sale of 49% of BLM (Barça Licensing & Merchandising), which the club is about to close. They hope to get 320 million euros in total. The consortium formed by Fanatics and Investindustrial would pay about 200 million for the according percentage while the other 120m are being negotiated with other companies.

Barça will also close the sale of a part of Barça Studios to Polkadot, a company dedicated to Blockchain and cryptocurrency. They will give them everything that refers to NFTs and the Metaverse for about 60 million euros. Between these two parts, FC Barcelona could already obtain 380 million euros and would gain a lot of room for maneuver and could still obtain more resources when the third lever, that of the television rights, is pulled.

At this point there is already more debate within the board. There are two offers on the table. The best known is that of the CVC investment fund, which is linked to the LaLiga agreement and would provide 270 million euros. They would have to cede 10% of television rights for 50 years. The other proposal that the club has is from Goldman Sachs, who offer 400 million euros for 20% of the rights for 20 years. There are voices on the board of directors who prefer to wait because they consider that the market for television rights fluctuates a lot and that 20 and 50 years are too long and that the club would be mortgaged. Those who defend this position remember that this year 180 million will be charged for television rights. The benefit of signing with CVC would serve to align with the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, who could be much more receptive and open on the issue of the salary limit and give Barça more margin to be able to register the signings that arrive this summer.