08/27/2020 - 14:02
- Clarín.com
- sports
Since the bomb of the departure of Lionel Messi from Barcelona exploded, Leo's future is a matter of state in Spain. It is that his departure would not only have a football interference in the team that would lose the best player in its history. There is also the economic and tourist impact that the Flea generates in the club, in the League and in the region.
As reflected in a note published this Thursday in the Spanish newspaper ABC , for having Messi, "Barcelona managed to position itself as the best club in the world in terms of the value of its sponsorship agreements with more than 230 million euros per year."
According to Forbes magazine recently , that put Manchester United and Real Madrid ahead, with 173 and 171 million euros respectively, despite the fact that Barcelona is not the entity with the largest number of business partners.
"The summer tours are a clear example of the importance of the Argentine when it comes to signing agreements. His absence in friendly matches is penalized with percentages that go from 10 to 20 percent of the global amount. This past summer Barcelona earned eight million Between the Asian tour and the one carried out by the United States and the Zenit of Saint Petersburg, he decided to cancel the scheduled match directly, being certain that on the 10th he would not travel to Russia, "reflects the journalist Sergi Font.
He is the one who puts on the table "the question of how the club's main sponsors (Nike, Rakuten and Beko) will rethink future contracts with the Barça club if Messi ends up leaving".
Beyond the fact that Messi is an Adidas man, Barcelona has a contract with Nike until 2026 and it establishes a fixed 105 million euros per year, which can even rise to 155 million due to a series of variables.
Rakuten and Beko, meanwhile, are facing their last year at the institution and it remains to be seen if they decide to renew the bond without Messi. In the next season, the income of the first corresponds to 55 million more variables (1.5 million for winning the League and 5 for the Champions League) and the second to 19 million, according to ABC reports.
"Barça is the leading sports brand worldwide, according to several studies. We have a local component, Barcelona. But we are also universal. This dimension of Barça focuses a lot on Barcelona, representing almost 1.5% of the city's GDP and helping to create almost 19,500 jobs ", Josep Maria Bartomeu valued in February.
According to a study by Deloitte, the club contributed 1,191 million euros to the economic wealth of Barcelona last season (2018-19). And Messi was always the main commodity .
But the departure of Rosario from the Catalan team would not only affect the region, but also all of Spain. Lionel Messi pays the Spanish treasury about 50 million euros annually and, with his departure, the public body would stop receiving that important sum, along with the 15 million that Luis Suárez generates, another that will not take place in the team.
As analyzed by José María Gay de Liébana, a professor of financial economics at the University of Barcelona, if the 50 million that Messi would stop paying taxes are added to what the Treasury stopped receiving after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018, the impact on Regarding tax collection, it could reach 90 million euros per year .
"Apart from the sporting conditions," Gay de Liébana underlined, "the tax treatment received by Messi and Cristiano, who have been treated as criminals, has a lot to do with it. This is a bit of why these players leave Spain, in addition to taking into account the sanctions and the acts that initiated them ”.
Likewise, the economist remarked that it will not be the same for Messi to go to English football than to Italian, "at the tax level, since in Italy he will pay much less taxes." "And therefore, it will also influence his decision," he ventured.
The income that the Treasury will lose will also be added to those of La Liga, which for example "at the level of negotiating television rights is going to find this problem, because there are no big football candies or superstars." Everything, of course, in the midst of the economic crisis due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
A story of love and hate
In July 2016, Messi was sentenced to 21 months in prison, commuted by a fine of 252,000 euros, for an alleged fraud to the Spanish Treasury of 4.16 million euros in income from image rights between 2007 and 2009.
"In 2013 and 2014 it was a time when my family and I had a very bad time. I was the first, and that's why it was so hard. They showed that by going for everything with me, they were going for all footballers and athletes. And that's how it was. ... ", said the Argentine last year.
Precisely, this situation almost caused his early departure from Barcelona. "When I had all the trouble with the treasury, I honestly thought of leaving. Not because I wanted to leave Barça, but because I wanted to leave Spain. I felt that I was being very mistreated and did not want to be here anymore," he said in an interview with RAC1.
At that time, he did not receive official offers, since everyone knew his desire to continue in the Catalan team. However, the ten assured that "many clubs had their doors open."
MFV