Barça flattens the path to finish the Camp Nou works

BarcelonaThe very intense heat that crushes Barcelonathese days FC Barcelona's work on the Camp Nou continues unabated. This summer's tasks are focused on the third tier, which has been built from scratch over the past few months, and also on the structure that will support the stadium's roof. It is planned (and presumed, hence the improvement of the fair play of the League) that this third tier will reopen in phases during the next season and will raise the stadium's capacity to over 100,000 spectators. If the schedule is respected, the installation of the roof will begin next summer, will extend for a minimum of four months and, therefore, will require another exile of Barça's first men's team to Montjuïc, which is the only space with enough capacity to cover the needs of a club that bases a large part of its business model on the exploitation of the ticketing.

But for the medium and long-term economic and asset forecasts to be met, Barça needs short-term financing. As this newspaper reported at the beginning of June, the board of directors chaired by Joan Laporta will request permission from the members to ask for more money to finish the works at Camp Nou. There is a lack of liquidity to complete the integral renovation of the stadium after the 1,450 million raised in 2023 through Goldman Sachs were not enough. The deviation exceeds 350 million, not including the Palau Blaugrana, which does not yet have a definitive project and was excluded from the first credit operation. Sources close to Barça assure ARA that an extraordinary assembly is planned to discuss the Espai Barça in particular. The date is not set, but the end of August calendar is being studied to coincide with a home league match. The most likely option, therefore, is the Barça-Rayo match scheduled for the last weekend of that month.

Due to a lack of concrete details regarding this very important vote, this week the international agency Morningstar DBRS has confirmed the BBB credit rating of the Barça club. This is very welcome news at the offices on Arístides Maillol. Morningstar believes that Barça's increased debt due to the final phase of the Camp Nou works is "temporary" and makes an optimistic forecast from 2028, when the new stadium is expected to operate at full capacity and guarantee a sustained increase in revenue. The rating agency founded in Canada also applauds Barça's commercial positioning (record sales of shirts and official products, and sponsorships) and the competitiveness of its professional teams.

Real Madrid does not have a public credit rating

Maintaining the BBB rating smooths the path for Laporta to obtain more financing to complete the new Camp Nou. It is the second lowest credit rating considered investment grade. Above it are the ratings BBB+, A-, A, A+, AA-, AA, AA+ and AAA, the latter being the best of all. Below BBB are the speculative grade ratings (from worst to best): D, C-, C, C+, CC-, CC, CC+, CCC-, CCC, CCC+, B-, B, B+, BB-, BB and BB+. For example, the credit rating of the Spanish state is A, while that of Italy, Greece or Hungary is BBB. Among football clubs, not many expose themselves to a public rating. That Barça does so is a sign of transparency for the arrival of investors and to obtain financial products under the best conditions. It should be remembered that three years ago it closed the operation with Goldman Sachs with a BBB rating and an average interest rate of 5.5%.