Barcelona’s economic vice-president Eduard Romeu attended a press conference today (h/t SPORT) where he presented the club’s financial situation after 2021/22 and the budget plans for the season 2022/23.
During the meeting, Romeu discussed several topics such as the economic levers the club was to trigger this summer, the TV rights agreement with Sixth Street, the inflated wage bill, as well as the possibility of re-signing Lionel Messi at the helm. Summer 2019. 2023 PSG.
The first lever activated by Barcelona was the sale of 25% of the TV rights to Sixth Street. Explaining the club’s decision to go ahead with this deal instead of the La Liga-backed CVC proposal, Romeu said:
“We sold 10% of television rights for 25 years in exchange for 266 million euros. The club also retained a buyout option in negotiations with Sixth Street.
“The reduction in the duration of the agreement and the cost of the operation, as well as the structure of the agreement, are the main advantages of the agreement with Sixth Street compared to the CVC proposal.”
The economic vice-president also highlighted the fact that the wage bill has fallen from 98% of total income to 68%, which in itself is a big step for the club.
“Barça’s wage bill has fallen from 98% of income to 68%. And if you count the operating result with the sale of TV rights included, the real percentage is 51%.
Speaking about the signings made during the January transfer window earlier, Romeu said: “We were ninth in the league and we had doubts about qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. In winter, you had to make an effort.
During the press conference, Romeu also confirmed that Barcelona closed the 2021/22 financial year with a profit of €98m, while also forecasting a revenue of €1,255m for 2022/23.
Romeu had recently spoken about Messi’s possible re-signing next year. And once again he reiterated that if the club planned the operation, the move would be financially feasible, saying:
“If the sports management deems it appropriate, we will get to work. We know how to work miracles. Leo Messi is an asset to the club and he will always have the doors open.”
Missing out on qualifying for the Champions League Round of 16 could end up hurting Barcelona financially. However, Romeu insisted the club were calm about the situation and believed the team would achieve their goals.
“We are confident about qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League. We will win the remaining three games and move on to the next round,” he said.
“Last season, the impact of elimination in the group stage was 12 million euros. We count the income that we did not have, but also the expenses that we saved. This year, we are considering to win La Liga and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League,” he added later.
Regarding the current financial health of the club, he clarified that the club is not out of the woods yet, saying: “We were in intensive care and now we are on the floor. There is still a lot of work to do. The numbers are capricious and they always come back.
“A long-term debt structure saves time, but the equity imbalance remains significant. This season and next we will have to use a mechanism to get to the point where we want to be next year.
On the medium and long term plans of the club without counting on the levers he said: “A lever can be the sale of a player. There are many possibilities. Ordinarily, without the income from the levers, we would have lost 106 million euros last year and 210 million euros this year. It’s like that.
“We are working on increasing revenues. Our companions were not happy. Regaining the trust of sponsors is not easy, we are going slower than we wanted. From now on, anyone who wants to partner with us will have to pay. It’s like that with the jersey and with BLM.”
Regarding the deal with Sixth Street which will allow Barcelona to buy back the TV rights, he said: “It’s not a transfer, it’s a sale with all the positive and negative risks that entails. La Liga is the one that manages the rights.
“If the league does a good job, we would be delighted. We would still have 75% and, if managed well, Sixth Street would win to some extent. For this reason, we have agreed to a buyout clause to advance the takeover to 100% before 25 years.
Regarding the financial impact of playing at Montjuic next season, he said: “We are trying to neutralize the drop in income that this will cause. We have a lot of ideas, we are very imaginative. We want to minimize the impact.
“What the previous board did wrong bothers me as much as what it didn’t do. We could have taken advantage of the pandemic to streamline Espai Barça.
On what would be the ideal situation for the club financially in terms of wage bills, he said: “In the best of scenarios, which today seems difficult, we could advance the recovery of 100% of television rights to 20 years.
“That would only happen if La Liga were, in this matter, at Premier League level. Mateu Alemany, on the other hand, is the one commanding the wage bill.
“500 million euros would be the figure: 420 million euros for the first team and 80 million euros between grassroots football and the sections. This would allow us to be competitive and opt for all the competitions in which we participate.
Speaking of the big deals the old regime gave to some of the club’s veteran stars, Romeu said:
“If we follow the table of contract expirations, this year and next we still have salary costs higher than what we have in mind. Until season 2024/25, the situation will not be normalized. Things are like that, but I want to stress that it’s nobody’s fault.
On European Super League plans, he said: “It would be positive. Our desire is to reach an agreement satisfactory to all parties which allows the clubs which generate the most to be those which receive the most income. I think that, compared to what we have now, any movement would be possible.