Laporta s revenue exceeds Bartomeu s! Why is Barcelona still out of money?

Sports Weekly Full Media Report

Barcelona will hold a general meeting of members on October 19. Recently, the club provided member representatives with financial documents for the 2024-25 season and a budget report for the 2025-26 season for review at the general meeting.

The report pointed out that the club's regular revenue in the 2024-25 fiscal year reached 994 million euros, 101 million higher than last year's budget. This is the first time during Laporta's tenure that it has surpassed the highest revenue record of the Bartomeu era (990 million euros in 2019). Net debt fell from 560 million to 469 million, a decrease of 91 million, and a total decrease of 211 million since Laporta took office in 2021. Total wages account for 54% of the club's total revenue, an increase of 2 percentage points from last season, but still far below UEFA's 70% warning line.

Thanks to good competitive performance and fan participation, Barcelona's ticket revenue increased by 39 million euros last year, which also promoted commercial sales around the club. Thanks to the international expansion of the club's e-commerce business, Barcelona's revenue from merchandise sales (BLM) in the past year was 170 million euros, a year-on-year increase of 55%. After renewing the lucrative contract with Nike, commercial sponsorship revenue also reached a record 259 million euros. When the team officially returns to Camp Nou, it will also bring an increase of 50 million euros in ticket revenue. Barcelona expects total revenue in 2026 to exceed the 1 billion mark, reaching 1.075 billion.

Although the club claimed to have achieved an "overall profit" of 2 million euros, the final result was still an after-tax net loss of 17 million. These losses were mainly due to a €15 million fine from UEFA (violating Financial Fair Play) and a reduction in the valuation of Barca Productions (renamed from Barca Studios to Barca Produccions). This has also led to a further decline in the club's net assets, from -135 million euros in the 2023-24 season to -153 million euros in the 2024-25 season. In terms of expenditure, it rose from 866 million to 964 million, an increase of 98 million euros. Among them, administrative expenses increased by 66 million, and are expected to increase by more than 54 million in 2026. Total wages rose from 505 million to 534 million euros, exceeding the La Liga salary cap (351 million) by 183 million euros. The total expenditure in the 2026 budget will also exceed 1 billion, reaching 1.019 billion euros.

This summer, Barcelona still completed the registration of new players until the last day. A widely circulated saying for the delay in reaching the Financial Fair Play 1:1 rule is that "you must return to Camp Nou to activate VIP seat sales." However, due to the delayed completion of the new Camp Nou stadium, funds from VIP ticket sales cannot be accounted for. But according to media reports, this may not be the case. Barcelona actually received 58 million euros in VIP ticket payments as early as January this year. This fund can be accounted for, but what cannot be accounted for is the 42 million that has not yet been collected. By September, Barcelona received another 12 million, which means that Barcelona’s revenue from VIP tickets is 70 million, and only 30 million of the uncollected money is not accounted for. In addition, the club subsequently signed a supplementary clause in the contract, clearly stating that VIP rights are also valid at the Olympic Stadium in Montjuic or the Cruyff Stadium.

Barcelona is once again in trouble with financial fairness issues this summer for exactly the same reason as last year: the auditors forced a reduction in the valuation of a business that has never really been successful - Barca Studios, specifically from 408 million to 178 million, which directly led to a book "loss" of up to 230 million euros. Laporta's biggest "scam" or "magic" in the past two or three years is the seriously overvalued streaming audio and video service. This is the biggest obstacle that prevents Barcelona from reaching the 1:1 rule. Compared with Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways directly sponsoring Manchester City and Paris at a premium, Laporta's "leverage" is not as useful as real money.