FC Barcelona have confirmed multimillion dollar revenue from El Clasico through their vice president of marketing Juli Guiu, who revealed specific figures to Tot Costa on Radio Catalunya Friday morning.
Barca suffered defeat for the first time this season when losing 2-1 to their bitter rivals at the Montjuic Stadium last Saturday.
They were the best team for a good hour against Carlo Ancelotti’s men despite fielding an injury-depleted team.
Ilkay Gundogan put them ahead early while Fermin Lopez almost made it 2-0 by the quarter of the mark when hitting the post.
In the second half, however, a devastating double from Jude Bellingham stole the points for Los Blancos and put them four ahead of the Catalans at the top of La Liga.
Though disaster struck on the pitch, Barca still came out of the meeting with positives and achieved multimillion dollar revenue from it.
According to Guiu, who conceded an interview to Tot Costa, the result “was the only thing that didn’t go well” with a “unique partnership” between Barca, the Rolling Stones and Spotify for the match having a “brutal impact”.
“When we make or recieve this type of proposal, we want the best possible artists and we look very carefully at who [we do it with] and when to do it. We have to look for new groups and new experiences, but it has to be on specific dates,” said Guiu.
While in a March Clasico at Camp Nou Barca sported the logo of Catalan singer Rosalia on their jerseys, the most recent sitting of the world’s biggest derby saw Barca with the Rolling Stones’ “tongue and lips” emblazoned across their Blaugrana shirts.
Guiu stated that Barca earned $8.09 million in total (€7.6 million) last weekend.
“A record at Montjuic and an important figure because it exceeds 60% of the games at the Spotify Camp Nou [in revenue]. I wish it could be like this every week,” he added.
According to Guiu, Clasicos at Camp Nou typically earned $8.8 million (€8.3 million) but this figure will be hard to achieve at Montjuic given it is much smaller.
Even so, a Montjuic attendance record was broken as 50,112 spectators watched Madrid’s dramatic, last-gasp win.
Such news is welcomed by Barca at a time when they are in debt and struggle to register new players amid strict Financial Fair Play limits.
As supported by UEFAEFA figures, the club is also achieving impressive revenue in the Champions League owing to their perfect 100% record thus far and the strength of their past performances in Europe’s elite club competition.
