From sports clubs to stock companies: The financial structure of football in Spain, 1992–2001

Abstract

In this paper we study the financial structure of professional football in Spain during the last decade. In 1992, all the football clubs in Spain with the exception of Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Osasuna and Real Madrid, became stock companies, obtaining extra money from Spanish football pools to cancel their debts. Five years later, the clubs signed new individual contracts with television operators and received new revenues from these agreements. For the second time, the old solution of obtaining a large cash injection did not solve the clubs’ financial problems. Instead, new circumstances appeared. Transfer fees and players’ wages were increasing substantially, clubs were spending money from future revenues and balance sheets were based on intangible fixed assets. This situation has meant that for some clubs it will be difficult to survive in professional football in Spain.