BarcelonaPalau Blaugrana, 17 October 2021. 4,457 members are summoned by Joan Laporta’s board to decide matters of vital importance for Barça’s immediate future. The regular session, consisting of nine points including the Chairman’s initial report and the delegates’ proposals, requests and questions, must resolve two aspects that are even more essential than the credit transaction with Goldman Sachs that was approved. at the assembly last June 20, the first with the new leadership. On the one hand, the new financing proposal for Espai Barça with a ceiling of 1.5 billion euros, 900 more than those voted in a referendum in 2014. And, on the other, the suspension sine die of article 67 of the statutes, approved by the government of Sandro Rosell in 2013 and which obliges the board to reimburse the losses in two years. The current rule, given the crisis, threatens the mandate of Laporta, which in its first closure has presented a loss of 481 million. All this with the shadow of the joint-stock company hovering over the Camp Nou more and more often.
Bartomeu’s legacy
An exercise split in half
The first controversial stop of the assembly will be on the second item on the agenda, at which the board will call for the approval of some red bills. CEO Ferran Reverter and Vice President Eduard Romeu have made it clear these days that the nearly 500 million hole in the 20/21 academic year responds more to the legacy received than to the effects of the covid. They have split the year in two (before and after the inauguration), which has no binding course, and have minimized the impact of the pandemic to 91 million. On the other hand, both the former top team and the League raise it to 261 million in the 20/21 season alone, in which the Camp Nou could not open its doors for a single day. In addition, the employer of Spanish football questions that the club wants to charge at a loss the depreciation of players like Griezmann, Coutinho or Pjanic (160 million) and open litigation worth 90 million. The measure, which Laporta already implemented in 2003, seeks short-term benefits that would have a positive impact on the endorsement of its leaders, which must be recalculated on an expenditure budget of 765 million. Jaume Roures, who endorsed 30 million to avoid new elections, will stop doing so on November 30. The board will therefore have to look for new supports.
Espai Barça, an emergency
Laporta resizes the project
After the closing and the budget, the fourth item on the agenda will be for Espai Barça. “It is essential for the viability of the club, and for the present and future of Barça, to have a stadium, a space, a Barça campus. It will generate a lot of income,” explained Joan Laporta in a recent interview. The president will ask permission from the assembly to seek funding for a maximum value of 1.5 billion, when the initial projected figure was 600. Despite the unprecedented crisis facing the institution, the market is confident that members will give the green light. And, once the permit has been obtained, the next step will be to formalize an agreement that has already begun working with Goldman Sachs, an American fund that Bartomeu and the current Barça government agree on. “The project had many shortcomings. Only in terms of technology, the differential was 100 million. And other things, such as sustainability. The key issue is that the costs were not real,” Vice President Elena Fort told ARA , who sees it as irreparable for the bill to skyrocket after the neglect of the stadium has transpired these days with consequences for the safety of its users.
Soften rules of economic control
Separate vote on changes to the statutes
Of all the statutory changes that Laporta will pass on to the delegates, one stands out for its importance in the governance of the entity in the short term. It has to do with article 67, which obliges the eventual board to compensate for losses in two years. A condition that, if not respected, urges the legitimate government to end the term prematurely and to leave the hands of Barça in a management committee. That is, to call elections sooner than expected (2026). Vice President Romeu has reiterated these days that the current rule is an impediment to the recovery of the club, while several opinion groups have called for a vote against to try to redefine the article in question, instead of its suspension sine die. Unlike other occasions, voting on changes to the statutes will be done in blocks and not at once. The board will also ask for a favorable vote to review Barça’s relationship with the National Supporters Clubs Confederation, to open the registration procedures for new members electronically or to shorten the terms of six to five years.
Barça Studios, Messi i Koeman
Explanations to partners before the ball rolls
At this Sunday’s assembly (point five), Laporta’s board will also ask for support to sell a part of Barça Studios to an external investor. She is one of the legs of the so-called Barça Corporate, which also embraces the exploitation of the club’s image through BLM (Barça Lisense & Marketing) and the Barça Innovation Hub. For now, the president and his executives only envisage the short-term minority outsourcing of the audiovisual production company, a measure that the delegates will, in theory, approve without problems. More war is expected from the partners in relation to the sports project, which will surely come out in the open speech at the end of the assembly. The president will be challenged by the departure of Messi, something that no one imagined in the assembly in June, and by the dubious management of the bench, with Ronald Koeman ratified despite the bad game and the poor results and the retransmitted search for a replacement after the European defeats against Bayern and Benfica.
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