The Negreira case had an important weight in the assembly in which the compromising partners must agree electronically whether to give the green light to the economic closure of the 2022-23 financial year and the budget of the 2023-24 academic year, which initially does not include any 'lever' . The decision of the investigating court number 1 of Barcelona to charge the president, Joan Laporta, for the payments to the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) José María Enríquez Negreira occupied a central part in the president's initial speech, which was blunt. “They won't find anything because we haven't done anything they accuse us of.”
“The history of Barcelona does not get dirty,” Laporta made clear, who defined the Negreira case as “the most ferocious attack on the image and reputation” of Barça. “It is an unprecedented institutional smear campaign and we are on constant alert because we cannot allow it,” he explained to reassure the partners. “No matter how much they search, speculate and slander, they will not find anything.”
The Blaugrana president does not hide that "they were paid with invoices and bank transfers" but defends that these "appear in the club's audited accounts" and that they were "for referee technical report services." Judge Aguirre's interpretation is different. “They think the money was to buy referees, but you have to prove it. The facts have to be proven. And they don't try it because they can't. On the other hand, we have provided 629 reports and more than 40 videos,” he recalled.
That's when Laporta once again brought up the concept of “sociological Madridism” that aims to damage Barça's reputation. “When you go to Madrid a lot and I have gone for work, you realize that there is a sociological Madridismo embedded in the centers of power. In the political, in the economic and also the sporting. Look at who directs all the sporting establishments,” he said.
In his opinion, this Real Madrid fandom is trying to prevent Laporta from repeating the successes of his first term. “They didn't have a good time in my previous stage. Imagine how you feel when the years go by and they already had us cushioned and you see that there is a new Barça, with the same president who made them suffer so much, that the coach is Xavi who was then one of the captains, grassroots football is once again taking advantage players: Araújo, Gavi, Balde, Lamine… They draw parallels with that time,” he reasoned.
And he went a little further. “It is evident that they are the promoters of this plot that seeks to destabilize and even take over Barcelona. And if in the process they destroy one of the differentiating features of Catalonia, things are going well for them,” he said, referring to the club's Catalanism, which also bothers.
Laporta had two final messages. One for the partners, for their people. “Everything will end sooner rather than later in a sentence that will absolve Barcelona,” he predicted. The other for that Real Madrid fan that fears Barça's return to the top. “They attack us because we are doing well again. But let them know that we will repeat the best Barça in history,” he warned.
Beyond his defense in the Negreira case, Laporta also reviewed the numbers presented by the board in this assembly. The reduction of 184 million euros in the sports salary bill is one of the most notable items in the reduction of expenses with a view to the next year. “It has been achieved thanks to renegotiating contracts and defining a new salary structure. This season the wage bill will represent 57% of the club's income. I am very proud of the board of directors. And from the soccer area. I thank Mateu Alemany for his work for two and a half years. Now we have Deco. He has a lot of judgment. He has a great rapport with Xavi Hernández who has also helped in all this. Xavi's value in everything he projects is crucial,” added the president. “We have a team that can and wants to make history. Who wants to leave a mark. And I ask for all your support as you have done at Camp Nou and now at Montjuïc and also when we return in a year to the new Spotify Camp Nou. Sportingly, it is clear that we are doing much better,” he stated vehemently.
In addition, Barcelona plans to reduce other expenses related, mainly, to losses due to player amortizations, by 98 million euros. Added to this is the application of the viability plan to reduce the club's day-to-day expenses, to which is added the lower operating cost of the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium, which implies a reduction of another 50 million euros. “The Espai Barça will allow us to continue our ownership model, in which the members are the owners. Is on a good path. We have already finished the first phase of demolition and now the City Council has granted us the building license to build the new Camp Nou. We will be able to return to the Camp Nou at the end of 2024, when we begin the events of our club's 125th anniversary. The Spotify Camp Nou and the Espai Barça is the legacy that we will leave to the Barcelona fans of the future. “I invite you to live this process with the utmost enthusiasm,” said the president, although one of the issues that most concerns the board is the debt, which amounts to up to 1.2 billion euros, according to the entity. All this without taking into account the operation to finance the construction of Espai Barça.
In terms of income, FC Barcelona hopes to compensate for the 78 million it will no longer receive from Spotify Camp Nou due to its move to the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium by earning 28 million more for its participation in the Champions League as it hopes to reach at least the quarterfinals. final after two seasons of being eliminated in the group stage - and another 27 million derived from the expected growth in the sponsorship section.
Precisely, the delegate partners must ratify whether they approve the sponsorship agreement to display the Ambilight TV brand on the sleeve of the men's first team shirt, a vote that, barring surprise, is expected to be a formality. "In all lines of Business figures have improved. In sponsorships we have reached almost 200 million, with more than 20 new sponsorships. Merchandising sales have reached 100 million euros. We are much better than when we arrived. The global facilities have closed with 229 million. It is 8% more than the 2018-19 season, the last complete one without coronavirus. We must highlight the income from Spotify Camp Nou, with 121 million. The Museum has invoiced 39.9 million euros. It has been done "a titanic effort with the containment of ordinary spending and the reduction of debt. We have gone from 680 million to 552 million last season," Laporta stated.
Without 'levers', Barcelona aspires to earn 859 million, compared to the 1,259 million it billed last season (32% less), while expenses will be 832 million, 333 million less than the last year. “This is the important point of this budget. It has been achieved despite going to Montjuïc, which implies a reduction in income and a reduction in sports salaries and ordinary expenses,” Laporta concluded. “The strength of the shield helps us. There is a way to go. But we will continue to apply the strategic plan that we activated in 2021 and from which we have never deviated. Saving Barça economically, sportingly and institutionally cannot be improvised. It is the result of extraordinary work resulting from the commitment of the people who work for and for the club,” said Laporta.
In the second point of the day, Laporta's board will seek the approval of the commissioners of the 2022-23 financial year, which closed with net profits of 304 million euros, with operating income estimated at 1,259 million and expenses of exploitation of 1,165.
These positive figures are explained by the extraordinary income of 400 million that Sixth Street Partners paid to the Barcelona entity for 15% of the LaLiga television rights of the first football team for the next 25 years. This American fund already acquired, in its day, another 10% of the same television rights in exchange for 267.5 million.
The other operation that allows Barcelona to close with positive figures is the imputation, as Romeu explained this week, "from a non-monetary accounting point of view" of the 51% ownership of the Bridgesburg Invest club, the company created to carry out the sale of Barça Studios, 49% of which is held by Libero Football Finance A, private investment advisors NIPA Capital BV, Socios.com and Orpheus Media.
Without these operations, the club would have recorded losses of approximately 200 million euros in the last financial year.
