Barcelona Chief Claims the Club Have Missed Out on €140m in Revenue
By Ben Carter
Barcelona's first vice-president Jordi Cardoner claims the club have already missed out on up to €140m as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
The club have already agreed a temporary pay cut with their players of up to 72% which will continue until lockdown in Spain ends, although it's expected that could reduce wages across the entire season by just 8%.
But as every branch of the club has been forced to stop operating like normal, Cardoner predicts the club will be between €120m to €140m worse off this year compared to their pre-season predictions, confirming Barcelona will certainly make an overall loss.
ESPN have broken down Barcelona's expected losses at €50m through ticket sales and their museum, while another €39m would have come from La Liga's broadcasters.
Barcelona also would have gained another €25m from 'commercial income'.
"This is for sure, what we know today. These millions will be in our losses at the end of the year," Cardoner told ESPN.
La Liga had been hoping to return as early as June, but it's more recently been touted that September could be a more realistic timeframe, but Cardoner doesn't think there will be full stadiums until the start of next year.
"Every day we have new input," he added. "We want to be safe, to take care of our players and their health. This is priority number one, but also number two and three. We will not take risks.
"We want that if competition comes back it's in the highest-safety way. If not, we are not ready to continue. We are talking about people, their lives, their families
"This is my point of view: this will be very difficult ... La Liga can start with public not before February 2021."