Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu has admitted that the Spanish champions will fail to reach their €1.05 billion (US$1.15 billion) revenue target for the 2019/20 season due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, reports, www.sportsmedia.com.
The impact of the global Covid-19 health crisis has prompted mass cancellations across the sporting calendar, with Spain's top-flight La Liga, as well as all professional soccer competitions in the country, suspended indefinitely.
With no return date in sight, and the knock-on economic effect this has had, Barca are already feeling the pinch, with Bartomeu confirming the initially forecasted record revenues will not be achieved.
"We are the club with the greatest revenue in the world, but it's true that we won't be able to reach the €1.05bn that we had budgeted for," Bartomeu said, adding that Barca were on "record pace in February, well above our expectations" until the coronavirus pandemic took effect.
"We have no income from ticket sales, TV rights, hospitality, stores, the museum...," Bartomeu continued.
"It's a very significant decrease in revenue and we are trying to compensate it with the reduction of salaries of athletes and employees, including executives, and with other ways of reducing costs and projects that can be put on hold.
"We will change models and the way we do things. We will have to adapt and be a pioneer."