FC Barca’s High Stakes Poker to Recover from Financial ‘Clinical Death’

FC Barcelona bought and registered six players during the summer transfer window. La Liga had stopped the Catalan giants from signing or registering new players until the club balanced its books. Barca had to activate four financial levers including selling 25% of the TV rights.

FC Barcelona bought and registered six players during the summer transfer window. The club is in debt of €1.3 billion and has only -€144 million for player recruitment.

Barcelona sold a 49% stake in Barca Studios to Socios and Orpheus Media to accelerate the unit’s web3 campaign. The unit is charged with driving Barcelona”s media strategy. Barcelona ceded approximately €40 million in future annual TV rights revenue to Sixth Street Partners for the next 25 years. In exchange, Barc received €527 million to help balance their books.

Laporta claims that FC Barcelona's revenues will increase in the coming years. LaLiga cancelled its 3-year TV rights deal at the beginning of the 2021-2022 season and will auction the rights to the highest bidder. Barca ceded 25% of TV revenue to Sixth Street. Laporte suggests selling a 49% stake in Barcana Studios to Socios and Orpheus Media will also increase the club's media revenue.

Socios is a primary partner of FC Barcelona's $BAR fan token. Barca has more than 260 million fans according to social media following. The $Bar token has a maximum supply of 40,000, and reached a high price of $79.26 in May 2021. It has since fallen to $6.09 and has circulating supply 3,951,907.

Barcelona signed Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich for a fee in excess of €40 million euros. The club will need to keep its signings to drive fan engagement to increase the fan token sales. The new Barca Studios could boost merchandise revenue. Sports businesses rely heavily on fan loyalty.