Barcelona have confirmed record revenues of €990 million during the 2018-19 campaign

[Andersons Dietician]

Yet they are borrowing cash to pay their wage bill from New York loaners. Something smells fishy

To read their income is only slightly ahead of ours when You take out the fluffing they’ve put in of transfers out when they got income from a league win and a further champions league they are still not on our level.

 

[Schneckerl]

A net profit of €4.5mil from annual revenues of €990mil should be a cause for concern.

They are a fan owned club. Profit is not an objective.

 

[11101]

That's not going to happen and there'll be other clubs who get screwed much worse than Barcelona in that case.

Secondly, players contracts are fixed term commitments. So are the sponsorship contracts and television deals that make up the revenue coming in. So it's not as if they will get completely blindsided by a fall in revenue.

If they do in some likely event lose a chunk of their revenue overnight, they can just choose not to spunk the 100s of millions they do in transfers every summer.

Football clubs aren't like other profit making organisations. Cash isn't as important for them, because there's only so many things they can spend it on - unlike other billion dollar companies, who need it to invest in R&D, pay out shareholders, acquisitions and expansion.

That's pretty much what all the other clubs who have gone bankrupt or been forced into a quick sale thought. Player contracts are fixed for reasonably long periods of time (not to mention the knock on effect they bring) and a huge proportion of their expenses is tied up in those. Barcelona are a huge club but they're not immune to financial troubles when they're operating on such thin margins. I suppose it doesn't matter when they'll be bailed out whatever they do.

 

[Treble]

The biggest contributing factor by far is the weakening of the pound, something utterly out of the owners control.

Wrong, you need only to compare the 2019 and 2018 rankings to see that the other English clubs haven't suffered much from the weakening of the pound.

 

[ivaldo]

They are a fan owned club. Profit is not an objective.

Sustainability is though.

 

[Harry190]

Propaganda.

 

[Harry190]

Within next 3-4 years Messi, Suarez, Pique, Busquets all top earners will be gone. I think messi will outlast rest. Suarez/Pique on last legs. Doesn't look like Coutinho will last much longer as well. New generation will take over, so wage bill won't be a problem in near future.

Yes, but not the quality. Not a very balanced take.

 

[KennyBurner]

wrong thread.

 

[ivaldo]

Wrong, you need only to compare the 2019 and 2018 rankings to see that the other English clubs haven't suffered much from the weakening of the pound.

Wrong. Don't compare rankings, compare actual growth. City saw growth of 0.9%, we saw growth of 3%, but City weren't effected and we were?

 

[Treble]

Wrong. Don't compare rankings, compare actual growth. City saw growth of 0.9%, we saw growth of 3%, but City weren't effected and we were?

So, Forbes' rankings are based on irrelevant things and Ivaldo from the internet knows better. Sure.

 

[Kasper]

I swear the thread on their obvious PR move happens every year, at least I remember one from last year going the same course. Barca come up with a ridiculous revenue, people point out how its manufactured too look great, some Barca Stans come in and defend their club just to get ripped apart by people of better corporate financial understanding.

Gotta say this about United. Of all the big clubs in Europe they're the least full of themselves, at least that's how I felt when I lived in England. Yes Woodward might pronounce weird toothbrush or whatever commercial partners but the overall marketing doesn't reek as much of the insecure self promotion Barca, Real, Bayern or Juve do.

 

[Schneckerl]

Sustainability is though.

It's been their model for years and so far it works out fine.

Is it sustainable or will they collapse one day? I understand that it looks suspicious, but I doubt people on the internet (me included of couse) have enough insight to know for sure. We'll see.

Barca come up with a ridiculous revenue, people point out how its manufactured too look great, some Barca Stans come in and defend their club just to get ripped apart by people of better corporate financial understanding.

I'm sure all those one liner "Bullshit" "Lies" posters have "superior coprporate financial understanding", backing up their claim with detailed analysis.

 

[cyberman]

They include what they expect to make from shirt sales to bump up their kit sponsor claims to 100m. Take that away and report it properly and its less than ours.
Barca and reporting financial numbers havn't been hand in hand pretty often..

 

[Cloud7]

I swear the thread on their obvious PR move happens every year, at least I remember one from last year going the same course. Barca come up with a ridiculous revenue, people point out how its manufactured too look great, some Barca Stans come in and defend their club just to get ripped apart by people of better corporate financial understanding.

Gotta say this about United. Of all the big clubs in Europe they're the least full of themselves, at least that's how I felt when I lived in England. Yes Woodward might pronounce weird toothbrush or whatever commercial partners but the overall marketing doesn't reek as much of the insecure self promotion Barca, Real, Bayern or Juve do.

I made this comment in a thread about Real announcing record profits as well. It seems like every year we get some variation of a story about one of these two clubs posting some kind of record profits, only for things to be not as rosy if you look a little bit past the surface.

 

[Schneckerl]

I made this comment in a thread about Real announcing record profits as well. It seems like every year we get some variation of a story about one of these two clubs posting some kind of record profits, only for things to be not as rosy if you look a little bit past the surface.

They are posting record revenue not profits.
Yes, revenue in football increases overall. Very suspicious. Someone with corporate finance knowledge should explain this to me.

 

[ivaldo]

So, Forbes' rankings are based on irrelevant things and Ivaldo from the internet knows better. Sure.

Way to sidestep the point. I've told you that our growth, indicated by Forbes themselves, outstrips City's, but you want to ignore it 'coz rankings blud.'

 

[mariachi-19]

cooking the books to get finance

 

[Treble]

Way to sidestep the point. I've told you that our growth, indicated by Forbes themselves, outstrips City's, but you want to ignore it 'coz rankings blud.'

You are addressing a point I didn't make. The reference to the other English clubs in the rankings meant to show that the weakening of the pound isn't such a big factor. Whatever, let's hope the team gets a lot better in the next seasons.

 

[Nanook]

Sustainability is though.

Since 2003 I think Barca have only posted losses twice. Their other sports teams are also huge money-losers so if necessary they’d be able to reduce fundings of them before the football team.

 

[MrPooni]

It clearly does, though. According to Forbes, United were 2nd most valuable sport club in the world a year or two ago. Now we are 6th, clearly behind Madrid and Barca. Another 6 years like the last ones and we'd be well off the pace compared to the Spanish giants.

Those dastardly Glazers at at it again! Destabilising the UK and devaluing the pound for their own selfish gain.

 

[Casanova85]

It will only get worse.

Madrid, Barça, PSG, Juve and Bayern will be miles away in a few years, unreachable for any English club other than Man City for obvious reasons.

 

[MrPooni]

So, Forbes' rankings are based on irrelevant things and Ivaldo from the internet knows better. Sure.

Well...

 

[ivaldo]

You are addressing a point I didn't make. The reference to the other English clubs in the rankings meant to show that the weakening of the pound isn't such a big factor. Whatever, let's hope the team gets a lot better in the next seasons.

But Man City, an English club, saw less growth than we did.

 

[cyberman]

It will only get worse.

Madrid, Barça, PSG, Juve and Bayern will be miles away in a few years, unreachable for any English club other than Man City for obvious reasons.

How do you even come to this conclusion?

 

[Sterling Archer]

Wow!

For all the people who kiss our owners backsides and cite the growth in our revenue under them, they need to compare the growth in our revenue against other clubs. We were far and ahead the richest club in England and were often the richest in the world as well when they took over. We are allowing clubs that had similar revenues to leave us behind while clubs with smaller revenues are catching up very quickly.

It's quite telling to see how far City have moved up over the years by shrews business development. They've even upped their social media presence and have a vision for building their brand on top of the football.

Really can't emphasize enough that Woodward isn't even a business mastermind let alone competent enough to oversee football decisions

It's a PR exercise and you've gobbled it up. A net profit of €4.5mil from annual revenues of €990mil should be a cause for concern. Conversely, in May we posted a rise in net profit of over 11% to £7.7mil for the same period last year (third quarter), despite a decrease in generated revenue.

Sorry mate but in the real world, cash flow trumps. Barcelona impresses and United pales in comparison with our resources and especially having started ahead.

 

[gaucho_10]

Barca is also 900 mil € in debt. Someone will have to clean all that up after Barto joins Rosell in a prison cell.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.spor...00m-after-signing-griezmann-20190714.amp.html

 

[MDFC Manager]

They are a fan owned club. Profit is not an objective.

But it's the profits that get reinvested so, it is an objective?

 

[Schneckerl]

But it's the profits that get reinvested so, it is an objective?

That's not entirely how it works.

Well...

How do you know that only Barca and Real are lying?

 

[giorno]

But it's the profits that get reinvested so, it is an objective?

No? What gets reinvested is the revenue. Profit is an extra.

 

[MVBDX]

Barca is also 900 mil € in debt. Someone will have to clean all that up after Barto joins Rosell in a prison cell.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.spor...00m-after-signing-griezmann-20190714.amp.html

Some folks would say debt is irrelevant when you've got such revenues, but their net profit is a measly 5M, so +800M of debt (and it's increasing on a YoY basis) might prove to be a problem in a few years. Their next management might be left with a scourge.

 

[RedCurry]

Can someone summarize why some posters say that this is some PR stunt/they are cooking the books etc.?

 

[simonhch]

Within next 3-4 years Messi, Suarez, Pique, Busquets all top earners will be gone. I think messi will outlast rest. Suarez/Pique on last legs. Doesn't look like Coutinho will last much longer as well. New generation will take over, so wage bill won't be a problem in near future.

Because they aren’t going to pay their replacements?

 

[3KDré]

Because they aren’t going to pay their replacements?

...as much.

 

[Adisa]

Can someone summarize why some posters say that this is some PR stunt/they are cooking the books etc.?

They are including figures other clubs don't as part of the revenue.

 

[giorno]

Can someone summarize why some posters say that this is some PR stunt/they are cooking the books etc.?

Because the figure includes profit on sales, which unless they can keep selling for €200m profit year on year is a one off and not indicative of the club's long term financials

 

[MVBDX]

Can someone summarize why some posters say that this is some PR stunt/they are cooking the books etc.?

"Barça include transfer dealings in their revenues, other clubs don’t. Barça revenues slightly ahead of MUFC when judged the same way."

Let's say they sell Neymar for 220M, and buy Dembele and Countinho for 260M, they count the former as +220M to their revenue, and the latter as 260M to their costs. So that their revenue will be 900M instead of 680M, which would've been almost on par with United.

They're the only mega club to do this.

 

[giorno]

All clubs do this actually, barcelona are just the only one to use the number including profit on sales for PR

 

[ivaldo]

Sorry mate but in the real world, cash flow trumps. Barcelona impresses and United pales in comparison with our resources and especially having started ahead.

I don't know what world you're referencing but super inflated revenue does not trump profitability. Particularly when you actually break down the pie in the sky numbers Barca are reporting, and find that the difference between our revenue and theirs is negligible. When you add that to soaring costs, unimpressive net profits, negative real growth and enormous debt, you've got to be mental to think it impressive. A classic case of commenting on the title.

 

[RedCurry]

Thanks guys for the responses. So yeah, Barcelona does include profit from players' sales as part of their revenue. Now that is some creative accounting but as long as they are consistent with it, I could look past it. It would be proper cooking of books if they stop including transfers in a window where they had a positive net spend.

Forbes article here does a good job: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbym...-to-over-1b-in-just-six-seasons/#60136d8f104a

In fact, from 2014-15 on, Barcelona would not have made an operating profit if it did not sell players at a substantial gain.

 

[Nanook]

"Barça include transfer dealings in their revenues, other clubs don’t. Barça revenues slightly ahead of MUFC when judged the same way."

Let's say they sell Neymar for 220M, and buy Dembele and Countinho for 260M, they count the former as +220M to their revenue, and the latter as 260M to their costs. So that their revenue will be 900M instead of 680M, which would've been almost on par with United.

They're the only mega club to do this.

No they’re not. Bayern, Dortmund and Juventus all report revenue including transfer fees. It’s pretty common among clubs in Europe.