Barcelona still need to hit budgetary targets, and to do this they are activating ‘economic levers’. This means the club are taking action to alleviate the restrictions and pressure brought by the humungous debt. In practice, this means selling assets to bring in revenue.
In June, Barça sold 10% of their La Liga TV rights to global investment firm Sixth Street, generating a capital gain of €267m. They sold a further 15% to Sixth Street in July – these two moves were seen as the first two levers, as they have an impact on the club’s salary limit and new players can then be registered.
It is a risky strategy. The Catalan giants are essentially gambling their future and hoping short-term gains will prop them up. Should they start winning trophies again, that will be another valuable source of income, but they are still accumulating revenues this summer at the cost of losing sources of cash in the future.
A third lever could still be pulled. It would mean selling a 49% share of BLM, their merchandising branch, as well as NFT and metaverse opportunities, though Barcelona are reluctant to take this measure.
These levers are, of course, a one-time measure. Barça must perform on the pitch and show they are back on top form again.