Barcelona’s club members have had their club’s financial strategy detailed this evening, which includes no Camp Nou work for at least two years.
The club’s 800-strong members assembled before the team’s match with Granada this evening to hear President Sandro Rosell and Vice-President Javiar Faus’ budgetary plans for La Blaugrana, and to vote on the next step in a possible stadium redevelopment.
However, Faus preceded that vote – which was a yes to a future referendum – that no plans to redevelop the ground or build a new one would have work begin before the 2014-15 season, when the club envisage reducing its debt to below €200m.
Faus confirmed that the club have begun research into the prospect of potential work on the Camp Nou, so as to ‘make a qualitative leap materially and achieve excellence through heritage’.
On the agenda, a large majority voted in favour of the proposed budget for the coming season of €441m, against a projected revenue of €495m. This revenue would be a record high for the club, and against the expenses drop of 6.6 per cent drop from the 2010-11 season, would also see a €48m profit, compared to that season’s €9m loss.
Rosell and Faus detailed to members this evening that this is in part down to increased box office, sponsorship with Nike and paid instalments of player sales such as Maxwell and Thiago Motta.
Meanwhile, the club’s overall debt has been reduced by €30m to €335m, whilst the club’s wage bill has stayed at €202m.
During a question and answer session with the members, comparisons with Real Madrid’s greater income levels was brought up more than once. Faus explained the reasons for the gap as being that Barca charge half as much for season tickets, do not include income from their mega-stores in their revenue and do not earn from their players’ image rights.
Barcelona also released projected figures for coming seasons’ revenue, anticipating a five per cent drop to €470m for next year, in light of not competing the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA World Club Cup. However, they also foresee breaking the €500m revenue barrier within four years, as well as reducing the debt further by as much as another €150m, which as mentioned above is required to prompt a referendum on the stadium’s future.
