The Barça anthem sounded in the Auditori 1899, and Joan Laporta applauded and smiled proudly. He was facing the Ordinary Assembly of FC Barcelona, problematic due to the losses of 91 million euros derived from the non-payment of the 141 of Barça Vision, although with 12 million of ordinary profit. But Laporta emerged unharmed. Among other matters, the closing of the financial year of the 2023/2024 season was approved between hours of explanation and doubts from the members regarding the situation of Barça Vision with 71.4% of the votes – 452 in favor, 156 in against and 25 blank—, and also the budget for the next 2024/25 season with 79.8% —409 votes in favor, 75 against and 28 blank—.
“We are better today than when we arrived in 2021. It has been achieved thanks to the trust of the partners, and those who have not paid attention to the catastrophic proclamations of some, who are neither there nor expected. (…) We are cleaning up the club’s economy in the shortest possible time, without putting our ownership model at risk,” Laporta began his statement. An appointment with 927 accredited delegate members of the 4,331 called, a “record” figure in a telematic assembly, according to the secretary of the board Josep Cubelles. All after the opposition’s proclamation: seven opinion groups advised the members to request a reformulation of accounts and, consequently, postpone the assembly. However, Laporta emerged victorious from the Auditori.
“We have created three levers for the future: BLM, Bridgeburg —Barça Vision— and the stadium,” said Ferran Olivé, club treasurer. But the debate in the assembly revolved around Barcelona’s unrest over Barça Vision – the commercial name of the subsidiary Bridgeburg Invest SL – and the provisioned defaults of 141 million. Olivé clarified it. It was ruled that its value in 2022 was 408 million, and the club put 200 million up for sale, 49%. “Orpheus and Socios.com They agreed to pay 200 million in various years. The first they paid 10 each, and in 2023 it rose to 30 million per head. But in June of that year doubts began, and they looked for other partners to relieve them. Libero and Vestigia appeared,” explained Olivé. Then, the non-payments arrived — “Libero has had a legal claim process for months,” added the treasurer — and so did Aramark this summer, with 25 million, a company already linked to the club that they assured will serve as an “anchor” to attract others, and that valued “100% of Barça Vision at 408 million euros.”
But Grant Thornton, who audited Barcelona’s balance sheet, assured that Barça Vision has suffered a deterioration, although without specifying how much. “We are not thinking about reformulating the accounts. (…) We remain in our position. We have a new investor who has valued the company at 408 million and in no way could we lower his valuation,” Olivé justified repeatedly in the face of constant questions from partners about the matter. A discrepancy that “will be modified in the coming months,” he assures, with the entry of new investors. “In the near future it will be one of the club’s most important sources of income,” said Laporta.
Beyond Barça Vision, both the club president and the treasurer highlighted the ordinary profit of 12 million and having stopped the “hemorrhage.” “We have healed the wound that had been bleeding for seven years. Since then the ordinary result was negative,” said Laporta, who praised Deco, Barcelona’s sporting director, for betting on La Masia, for the “containment to sign” – the president has confirmed that the arrival of Dani Olmo cost 47 million – and by reducing the ratio of player salaries to total income: the wage bill has dropped from 676 million to 505 million, and the ratio has gone from 98% in 2021 to 56%, within what is recommended by UEFA. “We are a buying club, but we have to know how to sell the players. The sales were made at the beginning of the season,” said Olivé about the 81 million in income from transfers and assignments. In total, the net debt is 560 million euros.
The promise of Camp Nou
Emphasis was also placed on the new Spotify Camp Nou, which despite the 100 million losses per season due to the move to the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Montjuïc, is expected in this season’s budget to increase income by 28 million per season. partial opening starting next year. “We are at the halfway point of the construction of the Spotify Camp Nou. (…) An average of 800 seats are being placed per day. In August 2026, the works will be completed in their entirety,” said Elena Fort, vice president of the club.
In the commercial area, thanks to the income from BLM — “it’s going like a rocket,” Laporta said — and the renewal of the sports equipment contract — Nike —, turnover will go from 374 million to 446. “It is still being negotiated and It is confidential. They will be ordinary and repetitive income, they will be recurring for the next few years,” Olivé clarified. In total, the budget foresees 893 million euros of income and 873 of expenses, with a clean result of five million. The partners also approved it on a day when everything smiled for Laporta.
