FC Barcelona Activate Second Economic Lever Worth $408 Million

FC Barcelona have activated their second economic lever of the summer after transferring 15% of their television rights to American investment firm Sixth Street for the next 25 years in exchange for a total capital gain of €400mn ($408mn).

News of the development was reported on by SPORT in Catalonia on Thursday afternoon, and comes after Barca sold 10% of their television rights to the same outfit for a total capital gain of €267mn ($272mn) at the end of June.

SPORT say that Barca are already working on the activation of a third lever to be able to register their new signings, for which they will need around €100mn ($102mn).

In recent weeks, the Blaugrana have announced the purchases of Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski from Leeds United and Bayern Munich respectively, and they have also seen Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen join Xavi Hernandez’s first team squad as free agents.

With the activation of the first two levers, however, Barca will be able to wipe out a negative balance of around €550mn ($561mn) of their debts which should allow the club to go from using La Liga’s 1-3 rule to the 1-1 rule meaning they are allowed to spend a euro for every euro that comes in.

SPORT note that negotiations for the second lever have been more complicated than those for the first. This is because when Barca got their €595mn ($607mn) loan at the start of Joan Laporta’s mandate last year, the president put down 90% of the club’s television rights as collateral.

Barca therefore used the remaining 10% for the first lever, but then had to get permission from Goldman Sachs to give up a further 15%.

With the third lever, it is also believed that Frenkie de Jong, who is wanted by Manchester United with Chelsea also interested, might not have to leave the club to free up around €40mn ($41mn) on the wage bill.

To raise further money then and activate said lever, the Catalans are believed to be looking at giving up a percentage of Barca Studios which will not be as high as the 49% previously quoted and something more in the region of 20%.