FC Barcelona: President Laporta unveils new financial plan
Joan Laporta Barcelona FC
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FC Barcelona are plagued by immense debts, but they still want to be a big player on the transfer market. A new financial plan should help.
Barcelona President Juan Laporta has spoken in an interview Barcelona TV unveiled his financial plan to get the Catalans out of the debt crisis. In doing so, the 59-year-old explained that Barca have ‘three levers’ to do this: borrowing from financial institutions, selling stakes in Barca Studios and acquiring new partners in the merchandising space.
Laporta admitted the club remains in a difficult financial situation, but his plan can help. “We are still in tough economic times. We have three levers that can be operated alternately or all together and we would reverse the situation. None of these levers are perfect, although we wish they were, but they all have good ones and not so good sides,” said Laporta.
FC Barcelona is still plagued by a huge mountain of debt, which was once 1.3 billion euros. Despite this, the club would like to attract more players to Catalonia. Barca also want to get involved in courting Erling Haaland.” All the big players are considering coming to Barca. We’re on the right track,” said the Barca president recently in relation to the Catalans’ transfer goals.
In order to realize transfers of this magnitude, Barca have the “three levers” up their sleeves. For one, the Catalans have a deal with CVC, a Luxembourg-based financial company. “We need to reduce the negative net worth, which means that we can either use the CVC fund (€270 million in exchange for 8.2% of the audiovisual rights’ operating profit over the next 50 years, ed.) or similar funds like CVC, which will offer us better conditions,” Laporta explained.
The second lever, according to Laporta, is the sale of shares in Barca Studios. “At Barça Studios we have permission to sell 49 percent of the shares,” Laporta continued. In addition, they want to “work in the Metaverse and in the world of virtual reality, which can generate a lot of income.”
FC Barcelona: Looking for new partners in merchandising
Finally, according to Laporta, new partnerships could also be entered into at Barca Licensing & Merchandising to increase profits. However, it should always be borne in mind “that there must be a way out to get back the assigned rights later.”
Furthermore, Laporta reported that the deal with Spotify as the Catalans’ new main sponsor is very advanced, which also promises new revenues.