According to Mundo Deportivo, at Barcelona's 2026 General Assembly, the club's Vice President of Economics, Ferran Olivé, presented and explained the budget for the 2026/27 season. Barcelona expects to achieve revenue of €1.195 billion in the new season and does not anticipate any asset write-downs this season, which would otherwise result in negative non-recurring losses or gains. Ultimately, the budget was approved with 583 votes in favor, 43 against, and 27 abstentions.

Ferran Olivé stated, "We have achieved positive operating results for three consecutive years. Let me go through the specifics. Regarding stadium revenue, we have ticket sales and season ticket revenue, as well as some income related to our academy. This is a complex season because we are playing at three different stadiums. We are gradually returning to our stadium, but despite this, we have managed to stay within budget.

Regarding TV broadcasting rights revenue, when we prepare the budget, we typically calculate it based on finishing first or second in LaLiga, or reaching the Champions League quarterfinals.

The third category is commercial revenue. Our agreement with Nike is very favorable because we can operate our own e-commerce and sell our own brand merchandise. Previously, we were limited in this regard.

The very good news is that merchandise sales revenue from Barcelona Licensing & Merchandising (BLM) has exceeded €200 million.

Another aspect is sponsorships. We set records, but did not reach the targets we hoped for initially.

The fourth category is player transfers and loans. Barcelona is a club that buys players, but we must also know how to sell them. We invest heavily in our academy, but not all players can make it into the first team, so we must be able to generate accounting profits from them. For players who cannot stay with the team, we sell them while retaining a percentage of future sell-on rights. When these players are sold again, we generate revenue."

Regarding club spending,

Ferran Olivé said, "Regarding expenditure, the most important thing is our sports staff wages. Our wage level remains below the threshold set by UEFA. We also review employment practices and have proactively converted some individuals who previously worked as self-employed contractors to regular employees, which has increased our wage expenses. In terms of operational and management costs, we did not meet our budgeted target because we played at three different stadiums. Then there are other expenses. Our regular operating result is a profit of €200,000, while non-recurring items resulted in a loss of €14 million."

Ferran Olivé then discussed asset write-downs related to Bridgeburg: "In 2022, we sold TV rights. At that time, due to issues with the Super League, our relationship with LaLiga was somewhat tense, and it was not easy. We were confident we had conditions sufficient to keep the club operating normally. Additionally, we needed to build a competitive team, so we had to restructure our squad.

For all these reasons, we had to activate new economic levers, one of which was Bridgeburg. They had a business related to tokens, NFTs, and the metaverse at the time, and these concepts were booming. We believed this was a business that could be developed. The valuation was €400 million at the time, but subsequently the token and metaverse market declined. We were also somewhat dissatisfied with our collaboration with some of these partners, and we could not continue to manage the situation. Our auditors informed us that the value of this company needed to be written down. This year, an additional €23 million was written down. We have sought other sources of revenue.

This €23 million is a book value adjustment, not a cash loss. We sold Personal Seat Licenses (PSLs), which grant long-term rights to VIP seats, giving buyers related rights for 30 years. We conducted this operation last year and are continuing it this year, for a total of €9.8 million."

Regarding sports costs,

Ferran Olivé stated, "Regarding sports costs, our wage-to-revenue ratio remains at 54%, which is below the threshold set by UEFA. In previous years, we far exceeded this. We must have a competitive team, but we cannot exceed our means.

Our net equity has changed from negative €153 million to negative €168 million, but as the stadium project progresses, we will gradually reverse this situation. Regarding debt, there are many different ways to calculate it. According to LaLiga standards, this includes money owed to banks, money owed to other clubs, and receivables from clubs. We have experienced a setback in this regard; on the surface, our situation has worsened. But this summer we completed the signing of Antony Gordon. No one closes signings before the end of the fiscal year because it worsens the financial figures, but we had to complete this deal before the end of the fiscal year. These factors combined have an impact. This operation brings our debt to €607 million, but without these factors, we could have reduced debt to around €400 million. Our auditors have given an unqualified opinion on our financial statements.

Finally, Ferran Olivé concluded, "Despite playing at three different stadiums, we still achieved record revenue of €1.06 billion. We have achieved positive operating results for three consecutive years, while maintaining a BBB credit rating. Our squad is valued at €1.267 billion, which is higher than its current book value. However, as long as we have not sold these players, we cannot record their market value in our books. Forbes valued us at €7.5 billion, noting an increase in club value of 33%. We have successfully returned to compliance with LaLiga's 1:1 Financial Fair Play rule, and we should be very proud of this. UEFA has awarded the hosting rights of the 2029 Champions League final to our stadium, which is the best stadium in the world.""

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