The Argentine megastar’s mega wages have inflated salaries throughout the club. His departure would allow a reset.
Losing Lionel Messi needn’t be a catastrophe for F. C. Barcelona. It may be an opportunity. The Catalan soccer team is — by revenue — the richest sports club in the world, wealthier even than the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. But Messi’s reported annual salary of 71 million euros ($84 million) has a distorting effect on Barca’s cost structure, allowing other (worse) players to seek comparable pay, and dragging overall costs up. The club last year reported net profit representing just 0.5% of its 837 million euros in sales. The exit of Messi, who submitted a transfer request this week, should let it reset salary expectations and allocate its capital more efficiently. The measly profit is partly because the club is owned by its 142,000 members, which means that it reinvests all proceeds into the playing squad. As the club’s income has increased, so have player salaries. The 44% revenue jump in revenue between 2017 and 2019 was matched by a commensurate increase in player wages. The single biggest sales boost came from a new sponsorship agreement with Nike Inc., which started in 2018. It was reported to be worth at least 155 million euros a season, although it has ended up being quite a bit less after Barca reclaimed some marketing rights. That deal gave Messi the chance to snag a pay rise of his own. Bumper contracts followed for other players such as striker Luis Suarez, midfielder Frenkie de Jong and French star Antoine Griezmann.
