Barcelona predict billion euro income this season

Barcelona expect to record revenues of more than one billion euros for the 2019-2020 season, becoming the first football club to pass the mark, the Catalan club announced on Thursday.

According to figures released ahead of the general meeting of their "socios" (supporters, shareholders) scheduled for October 6, Barca expect a revenue of 1.047 billion euros ($1.16 billion) in the fiscal campaign just started, which is six percent more than last season when the club generated 990 million euros.

"It's an historic record for a sports club, it's better than the NBA and NFL franchises and other football clubs," Barcelona managing director Oscar Grau told a news conference.

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu had set a strategic goal of being the first outfit to reach the one billion euro mark by the end of his presidency in 2021.

Main sporting rival Real Madrid, president Florentino Perez targetted a similar goal.

In the projected budget presented by Barca, the expenses amount to 1.007 billion euros for a net profit after tax of 11 million euros.

Grau explained that "one of the club's challenges" was to "reduce the payroll" of its professional athletes.

In 2019-2020, spending on sports salaries is expected to fall by three percent, from 525 to 507 million euros.

The club has budgeted 73 million euros to finance the remodelling of Camp Nou and its surroundings, a vast project called "Espai Barca".

Grau, who said in 2018 he was hopeful to find a title sponsor for the project by the end of the first half of 2019, said the club was continuing its research and studying alternative forms of financing.

"We want to make a good deal, we do not want to sell, so we are looking for a financial restructuring of Espai Barca so that the project does not stop," said Grau.

Regarding the accounts for the 2018-2019 financial year, the treasurer Enrique Tombas confirmed the figures mentioned during the summer by the club: 990 million euros of turnover, 973 million euros of expenses and a profit after tax of five million euros.

Barcelona, Spain | AFP