Víctor Font (Granollers, 49 years old) proclaims that his is not and will not be a classic opposition. Second candidate with the most votes in the last FC Barcelona elections, the businessman takes advantage of the football break to be seen and alert about the course of the club under the mandate of Joan Laporta, according to him wrong. He does it with the smooth forms that always accompany him. Some say they are counterproductive. Font says that appearing otherwise would be unnatural.
Have you had the opportunity to see the new facade of the Spotify Camp Nou?
A clear sign of the new times we live in…
Good business partner…
Yes. I know Spotify well, it’s a good brand, so was Rakuten. They allow working synergies that go beyond traditional sponsorship.
And the new giant mixed image of male and female players mingling for the first time…
It is a delight. The diverse Barça and the feminine Barça must be a priority.
More debate generates the confidentiality of the contract figures with Spotify. Could it have been done more transparently?
I have not been in the negotiations, but I defend the differential features of Barça and its unique ownership model. In other words, we must always try to put transparency first and we must make it clear to any commercial or strategic partner that joins our project. I compare it to t-shirt designs: members should always have the power to choose the ones we like best.
Is it essential to pay a commission in agreements of this magnitude?
Sure it can be avoided. The club should have certain competent professionals capable of establishing bridges with strategic partners without having to resort to external elements. Laporta himself was asked about it and his answer seemed appropriate to me. He said that if he had to pay commissions he would explain them. What would they be paid for and how much would they be.
Y?
Well, it hasn’t… Transparency has been lacking.
Are you an ombudsman?
No, but I would love to, I am the typical partner who likes to contribute and participate.
Would you have voted yes to the two famous “levers” in the last assembly?
There was no other way out. Either we voted yes or catastrophe. It should have been avoided to come here.
How?
We had them very worked, but we did not call it levers. It was about entering the club and immediately taking advantage of the three legs of business with potential: merchandising, the audiovisual part and gaming. We could ally ourselves with partners that multiplied the price of the value of something that you already have, that’s how you can grow the business. The sale of rights with a purely financial partner does not bring you any strategic value, we did not consider it.
Is it all the fault of the inheritance of the Bartomeu board or have reflexes and ideas been lacking in the first year and peak of the mandate?
Not everything is the fault of heredity, but heredity has the most important weight without a doubt. The situation was very complex. In that matter he empathized with Laporta and his team. The problem is that they didn’t have anything worked out in advance. It was already seen that Barça was a train that was going at 200 km per hour against a wall. There has been no planning.
“We found the club worse than we thought,” they argued…
Our diagnosis was detailed before entering.
Selling a percentage of television rights alleviates…
You are against the wall, you are the victim of some bad, improvised decisions that have aggravated the situation in the short term…
What do you mean?
Having increased the losses of the first year in an accounting manner is an error that the club itself acknowledges.
They haven’t done it publicly…
They confessed it to me the other day talking about budgets. They had two options when they arrived: optimize the situation to the maximum in the short term by reducing losses, implementing new business areas, call it levers, to reduce the negative net worth that you already inherited, or provision, increasing the losses that you already had from 200 to 480 million, going to 600 and something.
Ballast for financial fair play…
The first option gave you oxygen and more room for fair play. The second forced you to explain that two years of transition would come and you would not be able to compete. It was urgent to capitalize on arrival with extraordinary benefits. We had the plan.
10 percent of the rights have been sold to Sixth Street.
Very good company. I know them. But again I must say that it is a financial partner that will not bring us any strategic value. They play financial operations.
It is a company that comes from signing a large agreement with Real Madrid. We come from the Super League. Too complicity?
Sharing industry challenges and opportunities and aligning on time is sometimes unavoidable. Now, allying with Real Madrid is never a good idea. I say it another way: going hand in hand with Florentino is not good because his interests are diametrically opposed to those of Barça.
Would you have signed with CVC to retain Messi?
Our plan to save Messi was different. We reduced salary mass and losses the first year and we proposed a lifetime agreement. The other day he read that the Jordan brand developed at Nike has exceeded 5 billion dollars in revenue this year. Jordan will charge 150 million percentage in one year, more than any current figure in the NBA and more than when he played. We went beyond conventional renovation. Surely Messi would have liked it because he strengthened his bond with Barça. Today it is urgent to reestablish that bond.
The other lever is the sale of a part of BLM.
You have to choose the best possible partner when it comes to merchandising. There is no need to act in a hurry and I think they will not. Are good news.
We were talking about Sixth Street. There are also the multi-million dollar loans granted to Goldman Sachs. Does Barça really belong to its members?
Yes, it is, but we must take advantage of the next reform of the statutes not to apply a coat of paint but to reinforce and protect the ownership model, to strengthen the figure of the partner. More transparency, better assemblies, modernity…
If you don’t pay the creditors, everything is dead paper…
It will depend on the guarantees you give to those financial entities that leave you money, and more if you do it against the clock and under pressure. The rights of the partner cannot be put at risk. We must ensure that whoever governs acts with much more transparency than until now.
Are you afraid of a change in the ownership model?
The lack of professionalization puts the model at risk. Not by Laporta’s will, but the risk is real and high.
Do you maintain contact with Joan Laporta?
Not much. After losing the elections, I decided not to make an opposition through tweets or weekly talk shows. Our attitude is constructive and collaborative.
You are accused of being soft.
Wanting to be constructive is putting Barça’s interests first. You can be forceful and respectful at the same time.
How would you define your opposition then?
It is a modern opposition, empathetic but at the same time strong through an audit that aims to help.
What trench are you in?
As a radical cruyffista that I am, I am convinced that isms and diversity make us a richer club. But the trenches impoverish us
Confess it. Doesn’t it make you a little angry to see Xavi, the key man in his project, on the bench? To Jordi Cruyff….? The electronic vote?
All these pieces do not work by themselves, they must fit into a more complex gear. I like that these assets are part of Barça, but it makes me angry to see them in an insufficient structure, which is not what we think. Electronic voting, for example, is being implemented very poorly.
How is your relationship with Xavi?
It’s very good, really. We knew each other long before the elections. We talk and see each other from time to time. She is a wonderful person.
And with Jordi Cruyff?
It is a different case, our relationship was more professional. He was surprised that I congratulated him when he joined the club and I want to collaborate with the Cruyff foundation.
How do you see Espai Barça?
In two years there will be 10 of the referendum. We have bad luck. Now wars, supply problems, galloping inflation… Beyond the situation, making it a reality is a priority.
Will you go to Montjuïc?
If it touches me, of course.
“Barça can be run like a great family company”. Laporta dixit. Do you agree?
What Barça needs is diametrically opposed to that. It needs professionalization, to have the best in each area: business, sports and institutional. The president has suffered many disloyalties and that has led him to rely only on people he trusts.
What grade do you give to the current executive body of Barça?
It’s just that I don’t know him. Laporta’s best decision, although it came late, was to incorporate Xavi, but also to choose Ferran Reverter to lead the club’s business leg. All that equipment was dismantled in five months. It’s worrying.
By?
It is a big risk and a problem.
Speak well of Laporta…
He’s a very nice guy. He loves Barça and is dedicated in body and soul but that at the same time is a source of problems.
Overly personalistic?
But he doesn’t cheat. It was already known that this was the model. He is the one who was served years ago. The involution is evident.
Do you see yourself president someday?
I keep the illusion intact.
