Amid the rejection of most of the football team, the Spanish club Barcelona announced today, Wednesday, that it has officially begun a process to reduce the wages of players and employees, in the latest step to mitigate the significant impact of the Corona pandemic on the club's financial resources.
Barcelona announced a record loss of 97 million euros (about $ 115 million) at the beginning of this month, as well as a 14% drop in its revenues compared to last year, but said it was preparing for much larger cuts this season.
The Catalan club imposed a temporary wage cut of 70% earlier this year during the state of emergency in the country that began in March and lasted until last June.
Barcelona said - in a statement - "The impact of the pandemic this year is much stronger compared to last year, as the damage was limited to the last quarter. The current season will be affected as a whole, and thus the negative impact will be greatly multiplied."
He added, "The club expects a decrease in revenues of more than 30%. Therefore, there is a need to find immediate solutions that help reduce spending."
The pandemic caused the league to be suspended for 3 months before it was resumed without fans, which badly affected match income and commercial revenues.
Fans are not expected to return to the stadiums in Spain until the availability of property on a large scale from next January at the earliest.
While all players agreed to the previous wage cuts and took an additional step to ensure that non-sporting employees continued to receive their full pay during the country's state of emergency, many of them opposed the latest round of cuts.
Goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, defenders Climo Linglé and Gerard Pique and midfielder Frenkie de Jong have already agreed to a temporary wage cut that was incorporated into the new contracts for the four players, which were announced on Tuesday.
✍ Extension of 4️⃣ player contracts:
✅ @ 3gerardpique
✅ @ mterstegen1
✅ @clement_lenglet
✅ @ DeJongFrenkie21
pic.twitter.com/IIiJMGLKQp
- FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_ara) October 20, 2020
The Spanish Football Association said earlier in the day that it supported the players in refusing to reduce their wages because they were not adequately represented during the negotiations.
The first team players ignored choosing a player to represent them in the negotiations due to their opposition, although the club said it would welcome the representation of players.
The Catalan club's statement added that "the club aims to reach an agreement with the entire staff to reach a joint solution for a temporary, gradual and proportional adjustment of the salary for each group."