The most conciliatory and purposeful Laporta opened the ordinary general assembly held at the Auditori 1899, telematic once again, with a speech designed to convince. More than vindicating the management of his board, the president focused on the future and the need to obtain the support of the committed members for economic decisions that he considers fundamental for the future of the club.
Everything revolved around the same request, approving the accounts for the 2025-26 season, the budget for this year and, above all, the 510 million in new financing requested by the board, 300 to finish the Spotify Camp Nou and another 210 in the form of bonds to provide liquidity to the club and strengthen the team. A speech without great stridency and with two reservations. On the one hand, the clarification that the new Palau Blaugrana is outside this financing and will depend on “alternative formulas” and a blow to Real Madrid, without mentioning it, by referring to competitors who “when they need financing they reclassify a piece of land.”
The Blaugrana president tried to convince the delegates that the increase in financing is necessary to complete the transformation of the stadium and, at the same time, not lose sporting ground to the big European clubs. “Financial sustainability and institutional stability are the two decisive factors to be strong,” he defended. The president maintained that Barça has entered a phase of economic "consolidation" after the last few years of recovery and recalled that the club has exceeded 1,000 million euros in income despite having played matches in three different stadiums during the last year.
A good part of his speech was dedicated to justifying the additional 300 million that the board requests for Espai Barça. Laporta recalled that the project started with a financing of 1,485 million and explained that the delays in the works, the increase in the cost of materials, the improvements introduced in the project and the delay in obtaining municipal licenses have increased costs. It also affected the economic damage caused by prolonging the stay in Montjuïc. “This money is to definitively finish the Camp Nou and accelerate income forecasts,” he explained. The club plans to reach a turnover of 1,450 million euros in 2030.
Laporta also made it clear that the new Palau Blaugrana is outside of those additional 300 million. The club is working, according to the president, on “alternative formulas” to face its construction that, as the president explained, does not generate new debt or fall on the financing of Espai Barça. “Alternative financing formulas are being worked on in parallel to the Espai Barça project so that it does not have an impact on the Espai Barça budget or on the 300 million that are being requested for authorization today,” he explained.
To those 300 million another 210 million are added through an issue of bonds guaranteed with audiovisual rights. In this case, the money will not be used directly for the works, but rather to compensate for the income that the club has stopped generating as a result of the delays and provide liquidity for ordinary activity. Laporta directly linked this operation with the need to maintain sporting strength: “If we did not do it we would have a situation of competitive disadvantage with our competitors.” The president assured that the operation does not endanger the club's ownership model nor will it result in losses for members.
Laporta did not miss the opportunity to also remember Real Madrid. The president claimed the need to be “responsible, imaginative and brave” to compete against clubs supported by states or communities and took the opportunity to take a swipe at Real Madrid, although without expressly citing it, referring to rivals who “when they need financing they reclassify a piece of land.”
Laporta also used the sporting situation as an argument to demand the support of the delegates. He believes that Barça has a squad prepared to compete for “three or four years”, highlighted the combination between the players from La Masia and those from abroad and praised the work of Hansi Flick and the sports management. “We can say that we aspire to win everything,” he proclaimed before listing the League, Cup, Super Cup and Champions League among the objectives of the course.
The president closed his speech by linking the economic decisions of the Assembly with the maintenance of the associative model. He recalled that Forbes values Barça at 6.5 billion euros and defended that the greater income that the new Camp Nou must generate will allow the financing to be returned in a sustainable way. "Barça is yours and we need you to elevate it in the coming years," said Laporta, who presented the day's votes as decisions that, in his opinion, "will condition the economic and sporting future of the club for the coming decades."
