BarcelonaAs footballers do not wait and the official start of the competitions is scheduled for mid-August, Barça has rushed in recent weeks to introduce up to four new faces for the coming season: Kessie, Christensen , Raphinha and Lewandowski. The first two additions, free of transfer, were closed months ago. The next two were only able to be fully negotiated with the clubs of origin (Leeds and Bayern, respectively) once he agreed to lose 10% of television income for 25 years in exchange for 207.5 million. And those that come, with Jules Koundé, already official, at the helm, will have the boost of the extra 15% of audiovisual rights that the entity has transferred for 315 million.
The first lever was used to close the financial year 21/22 with profits and to go out to buy with arguments, while the second repairs the negative equity of the entity, pays some debt and gives muscle to continue signing. It also favors, in the absence of confirmation from the League, for Barça to stop breaching the fair play financial with the players currently registered in the competition. “They are on the right track and they know what they have to do,” said Javier Tebas, the president of the employers’ association.
It seemed impossible, but the famous salary cap will no longer be exceeded at the Camp Nou after three FIFA windows marked by the straits. However, the limit will continue to exist to register not only Lewandowski and company, but also Dembélé and Sergi Roberto, who start a new contract as defenders. To sign, there is no other border than the pocket itself, which in the case of Barça is once again full thanks to the Sixth Street investment fund. On the other hand, when registering the acquisitions, the criteria of the League, which has one of the toughest economic control regulations in Europe and will continue to urge the Blaugrana entity to reduce a wage bill that is too high in relation to their income.
As part of its rebuilding process, Barça is immersed above all in the first half, undoubtedly the most colorful and exciting: the presentation of new talents. But the club has not been able to advance as quickly as it would like in the second half, which corresponds to freeing up surplus chips to register new ones. The transfer of Frenkie de Jong was essential in this regard, but the Dutch midfielder at the moment rejects the possibility of moving to Manchester United and, if he stays, he is not in the mood to lose purchasing power. Nor will Memphis, Pjanic, Riqui Puig, Braithwaite or Umtiti resolve their departures in the short term: they have until the end of August, when the League will have already started. Faced with this threat of a cap, and above all the problem it would pose when registering the new signings on time, the economic area is ready to activate a third lever: Barça Studios.
Decisive complement for Barça Studios
Months ago, the trustees gave the green light to the minority sale of the audiovisual business. In fact, the board budgeted it in the 21/22 financial year. However, the planned 50 million could not be paid in because no sufficiently satisfactory offers arrived. Now, facing the urgency with the fair play, and with the lever of BLM parked for the moment, Barça Studios appears as a solution and promises an injection of more than 100 million (double what was budgeted at the beginning) mainly thanks to the universe of NFTs, of digital files collectibles “These assets don’t generate anything for us today and we need to make them worthwhile. In addition, Barça Studios is a loss-making business and we need to supplement it so that it is profitable”, they admit from Camp Nou to ARA. In other words, the third lever needs the power of the metaverse – immersive and multisensory experience through virtual devices – to generate a considerable sum of money. The pure and hard audiovisual production does not give enough of itself.
NFTs are a digital certificate of authenticity that, through technology blockchain, the same as that of cryptocurrencies, are associated with a single file. It would become a kind of virtual notary to grant validity to a document or a work of art, which in the case of Barça would be small audiovisual productions about historical moments and characters. A few days ago the institution launched the first one, with Johan Cruyff and his legendary flying header as protagonists, and will auction it at Sotherby’s, a prestigious company in the sector. After this one will come nine more, all produced by Barça Studios, but the club’s idea is to outsource this booming business under the umbrella of a partial sale (of approximately 30%) of its production company. The operation would come months after the controversial alliance with Ownix, which had to be terminated due to the involvement of its owner, the Israeli Moshe Hogeg, in alleged crimes of fraud and sexual abuse. With Ownix, Barça aimed to launch its first NFTs. It has now found the support of BCN Visuals to produce ten pieces which the club say aim to “inspire millennial and Generation X and Z fans”. Expand and rejuvenate the base, oh well.
The more than 100 million expected from the third lever would give Barça oxygen to sign up new players, but the Blaugrana offices warn that it should also be generated fair play with sales and assignments. Early next week, the League will update Barça’s salary cap once it has seen the documentation of the first two levers. The activation of the third will depend on the figure that the employer establishes as a ceiling.
