For Cash or Glory? Barcelona Makes Unprecedented Midseason U.S. Trip

On Wednesday night, Barcelona defeated Almeria at its temporary home while Camp Nou is being renovated, vaulting to third place in La Liga’s table through 18 matches. Its opponents won’t play again until Jan. 4, but Barcelona is back in action again on Thursday night, this time in Dallas—yes, the city in Texas, more than 5,000 miles from Barcelona.

Barcelona is playing a friendly against Liga MX powerhouse Club America. The 27-time La Liga champions will reportedly receive $5.5 million to play in the match in front of an expected crowd of 90,000 fans at the Cotton Bowl Stadium. It’s the latest cash-grabbing attempt for the club, which reported an operating loss of $212 million last season and has operating debts of $1.27 billion. Other recent efforts have included:

• Selling equity in a new media entity valued at $1 billion
• Selling 25% of its future TV rights revenue to investment firm Sixth Street
• Taking on a further $1.6 billion in debt connected to its stadium project

This latest money-motivated trip “will, temporarily, help the club navigate a financial mess of its own making,” as Yahoo’s Henry Bushnell noted, but it “will not help the team climb out of [third] place in La Liga. It will not help Robert Lewandowski recharge his aging, misfiring legs. It will not keep Ilkay Gündogan or Frenkie de Jong fresh for a Champions League run this winter. It will not help current stars whatsoever.”

After losing Lionel Messi in 2021 over Financial Fair Play issues, Barcelona remained competitive domestically, winning La Liga last season following a second-place finish in 2022. However, Barca crashed out of the Champions League group stage the past two years (before advancing this season), which never happened when Messi was on the team.