ELECTIONS AT BARÇA (& IV)

In previous posts I have talked about what, to me, should be the future of Barça. I have spoken of the economic model, sports and other sports. Now, it's time to talk about the one who owns the Club: The "Socis" (Members).

The socis of Barça go voting, every six years, which will their President. Every year there's Assembly of Delegates, which could gather a little more than 4000 partners to decide the general lines to be followed by the Board. The reality is that just over 1000 are attending. And that's it. It is very difficult (if not impossible) that the partners may have other activities and participation in the daily life of the club. Convene a non-confidence motion, with the new Statutes, means they have to be 15% of the members entitled to vote who request it. Around 20000. In 14 days, without having Census Members.

"Socis" (less and less, by the way), go to the Camp Nou every 15 days. One reason is that there are fewer members seats. How is this? All Right. Very simple. Not everyone who leaves the seat (resign as member), is replaced by other members. In the late 90s, the Club had major headaches in Champions League games. By law, 5% of tickets should be for visiting supporters. And this meant moving a large number of people (mostly Lateral (side), 3rd Row), to do so. Today, this is much easier. With a capacity of 99,000 seats, only 84000 (figure given by the Vice-President Faus in one of the presentations for the reform of the Camp Nou), are members. That is, 15,000 seats have been lost (or have been won 15,000 tickets to put on sale every game, each one to look as they want).

And, as ever fewer members, it is increasingly difficult to have complaints. At least, in the stadium. Very special circumstances should be taken to the "soci" make a mass protest. It's not about the "soci" to complain every day. Not at all. It is establishing channels that allow the members to say theirs. To participate more actively in the day by day. Nor, it does not try to monitor the activities of the Board. No. That's why they were elected.

For instance. The Delegates we talked about earlier are chosen by lottery. Don't you mean that, to encourage participation, it would be better than those members who want to be (delegates), can be elected directly? And if you do not get the number that mark the Statutes, then the draw is made to choose the rest.

Or, the members to have option for interviews (interactive, for example), with the Officials of the Club? These may, from time to time, go explaining what happens in the Club.

Many will say to me that most clubs that's what happens. Do not forget one thing. In the vast majority of clubs in the world, people that go to the Stadium aren't club owners. They are supporters, only. Here, as I have said many times, we are the "owners". The decisions of the Board are (or will be) in accordance with an electoral program and, as we say the members. On the other clubs, no. There is one person or group of persons who, because they have the majority of shares in the club, decide what they believe is best for their personal interests. And if they get tired, they sell it (the Club), and go away.

At Barça, it does not happen. And it doesn't have to happen. Barça must remain of its members. And they to say theirs. And, it is not to send an e-mail to complain that the seat is broken. Or that water falls when it rains because a pipe from the top is broken. Or ... No. This is not member participation. But then, neither the schedules nor the restoration of Camp Nou does not help much, not to say it does not help anything. Matches on weekdays at 10 pm. With some sandwiches and drinks at exorbitant prices (and no more than that). Members who go to the stadium arrive just in time, watch the game and leave quickly, because tomorrow people have to get up early to go to work. And let's not talk of those who live outside Barcelona and have 2-3 hours to arrive. At some point there was talk of formulas as applied by Bayern, which takes off place at those who do not go to matches. Normal schedule in Bundesliga is 15:30 on Saturday. There's a match at 18:30. One on Friday at 20:30 and Sundays match at 15:30 and another at 17:30. The same as here, so. And some would like to apply the measure. I know they will tell me that this is not the fault of the club. If TV, that if the Asian market, if ... Are you sure? At all? Can anyone tell the me difference (in TV rights), when playing on Sunday at 5pm or Sunday at 9pm? I'm not so clear.

What should be the mechanisms that allow the participation of the membrs? As I said, there are a few: Interactivity with Officials, suitable schedules, adaptation of the Stadium, Assemblies with more representative Delegates ... If you think about it, certainly you'll nfind some more.

It is our Club, and we are all interested in this is working.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP

ELECTIONS AT BARÇA (III)

Historically, FC Barcelona has been a multidisciplinary Club. Basketball, Handball, Volleyball, Rugby, etc. have been sports where the name of our Club has been present. Currently, up to 12 different modalities are practiced in the Club. Of these, 4 are considered professionals (Basketball, Handball, Roller-Hockey and Futsal), while the rest are amateurs.

The questions that many people raise are: Is it necessary to spend so much money to maintain (in the case of professional sports) as a loss-making activities for the Club? and, moreover, should we have so many different amateur sports in a club that is as professional as Barça?

I will tell you yes. To both. Let's start by the amateur sections. The last to go was an historical as was baseball. The justification was that the cost of this section was around 400,000€/year and, since the Club had a "deep economic crisis as a result of the previous Board" had to eliminate those expenses which were not necessary. Well, for you may have an idea, bringing Neymar with family and friends to the presentation of  the player cost (travel, hotels, etc.), according to what the former President Rosell said in his statement to the judge, 301,000€. That is, in a couple of days we spent the same cost that baseball has in a year. No comments.

As the name suggests, they are amateur teams; ie, the players do this sport because they like it, and they have no financial compensation that allows them to live of the sport. As such, these sports serve to show the name of Barça everywhere. To compete. Nothing else than that. So many sponsors and partners and I do not know how many things we have, can't we find one of more local type that serves to cover part of the costs they have? At the end of the day, how much money (among all these amateur sports) are we talking about? 5M€/year? For a club with an overall budget of over 500M€, this means 1% of the total. To put it differently: What an average player of the football team earns (gross), is what cost us all sections at the end of the year. And there would be many simple solutions, such as involving professional players, who serve for these sports. I think there is no more getting around the issue.

Let's go to 'professionals' sports. Teams ready to compete at the highest level in all competitions. Teams that play the "Champions League" for their sport, which often are in the finals and win. Teams costing us a lot of money each year and they tell us they are a bottomless pit. That, however much you try, you can never be profitable. Are you Sure? Has anyone looked well how the NBA works? Has anyone looked at how they work teams across Europe that do not have a "mother" football team who gives the name and much more? As many clubs from around the world come to see the model of "La Masia" to carry it to their clubs and countries, I think we should go there to see what and how. Because if Memphis Grizzlies, with a capacity in the Fedex Forum of 18,000 spectators has benefits and this Club is only dedicated to this, we have to start thinking how they do there.

They have said us about having global sponsors for all sections, about sponsorship for each team, this and that. What I can not understand is that a club like Barça have so much trouble to put a commercial name on the shirt when, we are told, there are so many sponsors and so many people who want to invest in our Club. Something is not right. Or we do not know how to sell the brand "Barça" or, we can not explain what the different sections represent or whatever. What is certain is that there is something that we do not do well.

Together with the purely sporting part is the exploitation of the sports arena. The "Palau Blau Grana". Years ago that is small and outdated. The Board put in the same package of reform of the Camp Nou building a new "Palau" when this was something that had in its election manifesto. If someone tells me reasons why you must go to referendum something we already said they wanted to do... Also, one of the prerequisites for this new construction is that Euroleague Basketball forces have pavilions at least 10,000 people capacity. What capacity will have the new "Palau"? Well, 10,000. That is, it appears that the Board has no great interest (or do not know how it works), in a large enclosed sports arena. Beyond the matches, there are many activities to do on a Pavilion of these features. Perhaps no one has explained, but here too there are "VIP Boxes", restaurants, etc. It is, like the case of football, to offer all kinds of services, match-day as well as the other days. People should have the need to spend the day at the club facilities and, if football game is at 8pm, do not have a match of whatever at 6pm, for the simple reason that people leave the Palau to go immediately to Camp Nou. Now, if you have the game in the Palau at 5pm, there may be people who go to eat something before changing scenario. Obviously, this is linked with the prices at the concessions of restaurants and similar. With current prices and services neither the Camp Nou nor the Palau. Has anyone stopped to consider the revenue that could we have with another model of pricing and service?

The sections are closely related to the exploitation of the "Palau". In fact, there is no, in these sports, the earnings of football by television and/or ticketing. One thing to decide is what we do with Club members and their relationship with other sports. Obviously, the first thing that matters is that the person who will watch basketball or handball is the "soci" of the club. But, as we said before, there is a problem of exploitation. The futsal team played a few days ago the "Elite Round" of UEFA giving access to the "Final Four" of the sport. It was played at the "Palau". What was the assistance of spectators? Below 2,000. Something does not work. The same with basketball. The "Palau" is only full 6 or 7 days of the year when we play 40 home games in a season. Little bit. Very little. We have, in different sports, some of the world's best in their specialty, but usually the "Palau" is half full (or half empty, as you prefer). I repeat: something does not work. You see matches of other Clubs in their domestic competitions and halls are full. And, let alone "Champions" matches. Tickets are sold many days before the game. With so many experts in Marketing, New Technology, etc. Are we not able to find ways to fill a "Palau" that, at most, has a capacity of 8,000 spectators? How to fill one 10,000 or 15,000?

We have two ways. Or we accept the current model, and we'll always complain that spending is unsustainable or, we start to look seriously what others do, that fill halls and have benefits

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP