It seems the financial difficulty that Barcelona has been mired in of late is getting better, bit by bit and year after year. As of today, Joan Laporta and FC Barcelona have reached an agreement with investors that will see an injection of €120M this summer. What is the agreement all about, and how will it affect the summer moving forward?
Details of the new lever
FC Barcelona announces the entry of new strategic partners as growth accelerators of Barça Vision (Bridgeburg) and informs on the agreement with Mountain & Co. I Acquisition Corp in order to guarantee Barça Media's success.
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 11, 2023
FC Barcelona have agreed to resell 29.5% of Bridgeburg Invest (a trademark of Barça Vision) to LIBERO Football Finance AG and NIPA Capital B.V. Barça Vision is a platform meant to consolidate the club’s digital assets, such as NFTs. The deal will bring €120M to the Catalan club.
This 29.5% was previously held by Orpheus Media and Socios.com .
This influx of money will allow for the registration of Barcelona’s contract extensions (Araújo, Ter Stegen, Balde, Roberto, and Peña). It will also make it possible to register at least two new signings, namely Oriol Romeu and İlkay Gündoğan. The registrations of Iñigo Martínez and Marcos Alonso may take some more time, as there is still a certain percentage of Barça Vision to be sold to further buyers.
This begs the question: Will this lever, as well as the completion of another on the way, allow for Barcelona to sign someone like Neymar, or João Félix? It’s been heavily reported that one of those players will sign for Xavi’s side this transfer window.
It still seems much more likely that a right back is targeted first. João Cancelo seems to be the first choice, as Iván Fresneda reportedly doesn’t move the needle for Xavi. Cancelo’s experience and versatility seem to be more important at the moment for the manager from Terrassa.
This agreement will certainly help there, if only because it will lighten the pressure of registering new players. Facilitating registrations of first team players is definitely a priority at the moment with La Liga beginning this weekend.
Agreement to expand into North American markets
Barcelona have also agreed a deal with Mountain & Co. and Acquisition Corp to expand Barça Vision and Barça Media’s reach into North American markets. This would see the digital content these two subsidiary companies produce enter new arenas of exposure and new audiences.
This expansion into new markets is apparently very lucrative for Laporta’s board, as they believe the revenue generated will be very significant. They also expect the valuation of these assets will be within the range of €910M-€1B. This deal, however, is still pending approval from a General Assembly of Members of FC Barcelona.
Much of the discourse around FC Barcelona in recent years has revolved around their finances – or their lack of them. This has made signing players, and especially selling players, more difficult than it’s needed to be. Despite this, it appears that the club is making moves to rebuild themselves into a healthier institution financially.