‘untouchables’ in Euroleague and ACB at the cost of losing 53 M in 2021-2022

Will it be the year in which FC Barcelona and Real Madrid meet in a continental end? Never in history have both clubs met in a Champions League or Euroleague final. The Champions, for the moment, will have to wait, but both command the classification in the European basketball league with solvency. The title fight, however, does not come cheap. Between whites and blaugranas they have planned losses of € 53 million for the 2021-2022 season.

The red numbers of both teams are a constant. In the last eight years, added red numbers of Barça and Madrid They have only been below 50 million per season in three years, and they have never dropped below 45 million euros. In fact, the budgets for 2021-2022 will barely reduce the joint deficit by 200,000 euros compared to the previous season. It is the advantage of not having an economic control like that of LaLiga monitoring spending.

In ACB key, between the two clubs they took almost 75% of the losses aggregated among the 18 clubs in the league in 2019-2020, and barely generated 18% of revenue, according to the latest report published by the Higher Sports Council (CSD). It is the toll to pay for maintaining its dominance in the Endesa League and competing with guarantees in Europe, with a increasingly tight schedule between club competitions and national team windows.

How will the red numbers be distributed in 2021-2022? The projection of Real Madrid is assume losses of 25.8 million euros, according to its latest annual report. It will be a 37% worsening compared to 2020-2021 for two reasons. The first, that last year Pablo Laso’s team closed with a 18.86 million hole euros, the lowest figure in the last decade and a half thanks to the transfers of Campazzo and Deck to the NBA.

That extraordinary income will not be repeated with the departure of Garuba and, therefore, will not alleviate the red numbers of the section for the second year. On the other hand, spending on personnel will increase by four million this season, going from 31 million to 35 million euros in 2021-2022.

FC Barcelona, ​​for its part, expects to lose 27.4 million euros this season, 20.8% less than the previous year, when it reached its historical record of losses by not being able to reach an agreement with its main players to assume a salary cut. The cut in the red numbers in the case of the Blaugranas is mainly due to the forecast to increase your income.

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If it meets its estimates, the Barça basketball section will generate an ordinary business of 14 million euros, its historical record. To date, in only two seasons it has exceeded the barrier of 10 million euros in turnover, although to help meet its projections it has already hired a former NBA Chris Russell as business director and sponsorships for the division of the basket.

However, your staff spending will be reduced in 2021-2022 and will go from 39.4 million (counting personnel, women’s section in Women’s League 2, quarry and first team) to 36 million. Even so, it will be a million more than Real Madrid budgeted for this year, due to the chips of players like Nikola Mirotic, Cory Higgins or Nick Calathes.

Of course, the total spending budget of Real Madrid (staff, transfers, supplies and operations), will increase by 16.2%, up to 44 million euros counting the amortizations for transfers. That of Barça will be 47.4 million euros, 5.8% less than in 2020-2021 and, despite this decline, it will continue to be superior to that of its greatest rival historic, which will be crossed this weekend for the second time this season, the first in the ACB.