€1.5B of debt built up by past management and the pandemic, crippling salary cap restrictions that are preventing signings, and the forced sale of club assets all paint a grim picture for one of the game’s most iconic clubs. Going from Messi’s €555M contract to being unable to register free transfers in time for new league campaigns is a fall from grace few would have imagined, but it is now the norm for the team. New sponsorship classes such as lifestyle deals, naming rights, and crypto sponsorships are all being touted as solutions in certain quarters, but are they really the answer?
Given the scale of the financial difficulty at the club, we’ll be taking a deep dive so that we can see the whole picture.
H2: The Full Extent of Barcelona’s Financial Problem
The mismanagement of funds on transfer flops like Coutinho and Dembele has combined with sizable pandemic losses and excessive wages to create the perfect financial storm. The real tipping point was when La Liga’s strict salary cap rules were adjusted, taking Barcelona’s cap from €671M in 2019-20 to just €270M in 2021-22. A move that the league brought in to force clubs to face up to economic reality would ultimately force Messi’s departure, despite his offering to pay for free for a period of time.
In an attempt to try and cover the financial black hole, the club has sold 25% of La Liga TV rights for 25 years to Sixth Street for €517M. In addition, they have also sold 49% of Barça Studios to Socios.com for €200M, as well as selling 24.5% of Barça Licensing & Merchandising to a third party. It’s a massive bet on the future performance of the team because if they drop down the table and don’t go deep in Europe, there will be less revenue coming in on the back end to support them.
For a club that is currently generating €800M+ in annual revenue, it is clearly frustrating that the debt servicing issues Joan Laporta has inherited from the Bartomeu administration continue to cause such problems. The academy has continued to produce immensely talented youngsters with the likes of Gavi, Pedri, and the incomparable Yamal leading the way on all fronts, but they will not be able to do it alone forever.
H2: Barca’s Issue With Traditional Revenue Streams
Matchday revenue is fixed at around €160M due to the Camp Nou capacity and the ongoing renovation project that has required a temporary move to the much smaller Olympic Stadium. Traditional sponsorships with the likes of Nike, Spotify, and Ambilight are thought to have been maximized, with the existing sponsors said to be somewhat against any move that would devalue their position and prominence alongside the club’s brand. And then there are the TV rights, which have already been partially sold off, meaning that future income has effectively already been banked and spent.
Barcelona’s wage-to-revenue ratio still sits at around 80%, whereas many clubs lower in the table sit comfortably in the 50-60% range. Messi may have been—deservedly so—the biggest earner by far, but the wages paid to the likes of Lewandowski, De Jong, Ter Stegen, and Raphinha continue to cause issues. Add in the fact that eternal rivals Real Madrid are playing in a fully renovated stadium, making smart use of young players and free transfers, and are in a much healthier position off the pitch, and the scale of the problem continues to grow.
Barcelona also has a fan-owned model sat at is very core—something that no leadership team will ever be able to convince the fans to let go of—and this makes state-backed investment impossible. The likes of PSG have used it to win the Champions League and dominate the game, but it’s an avenue that will simply never be open for the men in the Camp Nou. With this in mind, there are some who are calling for a move into more untraditional sponsorship deals and rights deals.
H3: Are Unconventional Partnerships the Answer?
FTX. These three letters used to be everywhere in the US sporting world, and then they disappeared overnight when a massive fraud was exposed. Fast money and lucrative sponsorship and endorsement deals turned into reputational damage and economic fallout. The result? Teams like Real Madrid have already turned down offers from similar businesses—even though they were reportedly offering up to 40% over the market rate—because of their worries about reputational damage.
There are some who are highlighting potential crypto casino promotions, collaborations for digital collectibles, and fan coins with voting rights as things to consider, and there are many who are against them. Barcelona has already made €40M from sales of its $BAR fan token that gave fans a say in how the club was run, but is this really the answer? Many feel that a club looking to plug a financial black hole should never look to an industry that is desperate to repair its image. The last thing the club should do is give in to desperation.
H2: The Rise of Desperation in Barcelona Poses a Real Issue
New premium seating, corporate boxes, and smart tech integration are predicted to boost matchday revenue by €150M a year, but there have been repeated delays in the project. A museum, a focus on tourists, and other concessions are all set to bring in money, but it will continue to be an order of magnitude less than the size of the debt servicing.
Layoffs, cutting back on scouting, and cutting the academy budget are all underway, but they risk damaging the long-term prospects of the club on the pitch. Yes, these are costs that can be cut today, but what if they result in the famed academy drying up in 5 years? The talent conveyorbelt can be easily shut off with cutbacks, but it will take years to restart once the button is pressed.
Some have said that the much-hyped sale of Frenkie de Jong for €80M should finally go through, and that it could even be followed by a mega sale of Pedri, Gavi, and Lamal. This would bring in plenty of money, but then where does it leave the team on the pitch? There are many within the club talking about selling off more TV rights, but then what does this mean for future revenue? Barcelona appears to be a club that is very much caught in a vicious fiscal cycle. The fact that it is a situation that is entirely self-inflicted is what continues to be voiced by fans around the world.
H2: Can Barcelona Realistically Recover?
The club’s management team has bet big on the current crop of young talent staying at the club, performing on the pitch, and winning the Champions League. The issue is that far from being a silver bullet and simple solution, this is actually just the bare minimum that the club needs to achieve to prevent further economic issues. While the loan deal for Rashford and his desire to make the move permanent by taking a wage cut show the continued pull of the club, this will only remain the case if they continue to compete on all fronts.
For the club to return to a stable financial footing, they will need to win major competitions, play attractive football, and do it with academy products who are willing to play for less than other European clubs will pay them. Alongside this, the age of mega deals for established stars needs to be over, and new income streams need to be leveraged in a way that extracts maximum value, but without harming the relationships with existing sponsors and corporate partners.
H2: 2026: Barcelona’s Uncertain Future Begins To Play Out
This is a key year with the Camp Nou revenue starting to filter through and the continued emergence of Pedri, Gavi, and Lamal on the pitch. A few bad injuries or a loss of form could see the club’s fortunes dip, and that’s the worry for many right now: too much pressure on a very limited set of resources.
To continue the recovery, the club needs to remain in touch with its fanbase, stay true to its principles of attacking play on the field, and adopt a more responsible and realistic approach to matters off it. While this may sound easier said than done, lean clubs like Bayern Munich have certainly shown that this is possible.
