🏟️ Barcelona's Billion Dollar Stadium Plan
Athletic Interest Weekly #8 🎄 Happy Holidays Everyone!
🤪 Weird Deal of the Week
One of the following statements is true and the other two are absurd lies…
Barcelona have announced plans to purchase Benfica to regain their place in the Champions League.
Barcelona have reached an agreement to begin selling PSG shirts in their club shop to recover some of the sales lost when Messi left.
Barcelona have decided to borrow up to €1.5 billion to renovate their facilities.
Those of you that have read the title of this piece will know the answer, but the fact that option 3 actually fits in with the rest is a worrying sign for Barcelona.
The Catalan club announced their plans to invest big bucks into stadium renovations after 87.8% of the club’s members gave the green light to the project known as Espai Barca.
Goldman Sachs is heading up the lending process with a 25-year plan on the table. This money will be on top of the $600 million the club has already borrowed from the U.S. investment bank.
While some will question the financial decision-making of Barcelona, the club claims the refurbishments will generate $225.7 million a year through hospitality, VIP boxes, catering, sponsorship and naming rights, and ticketing, as well as meetings and events.
📱 Social Media Madness of the Week
The Future of Erling Haaland is in the Balance.
Have you ever had that awkward moment when you say goodbye to someone only to end up walking in the same direction as them? Well, Erling Haaland might be in danger of doing the same with Borussia Dortmund.
After BVB’s recent 3-0 victory over Greuther Furth, Haaland proceeded to wave to the supporters. While he was probably just thanking the fans for their support, some claim this gesture was Haaland saying goodbye to the club.
Reports are constantly linking Haaland with a transfer to one of the big European clubs, but recent suggestions of an agreement with Real Madrid have convinced some fans that Haaland will leave Dortmund before their next league game in January.
Haaland’s agent Mino Raiola has denied any agreement with Real Madrid and insists that Haaland may even stay at BVB for another year.
While all of this was going on KPMG have announced that Haaland has leapfrogged fellow Real Madrid target Kylian Mbappe to become the most valuable footballer on the planet. At €144 million the Norweigan is certainly an expensive asset that BVB won’t want to let go without a fight (or a nice payout.)
🗞 Story of the Week
Nike Celebrate Impressive Revenues
If you have been reading this newsletter for the past few weeks you will have noticed that Nike has been making a big play for domination of the Metaverse. With all this talk of virtual football tournaments and meta merch, it’s easy to forget that Nike still makes real sneakers, in the real world, for real people.
They happen to be quite good at this IRL business. For the second quarter of the financial year, Nike has reported $11.4 billion in revenue, beating analysts’ estimates of $11.25 billion.
This is a significant win, with President and CEO John Donahoe explaining that the company is “in a much stronger position today than we were 18 months ago.”
Despite lingering supply chain issues in Asia, digital sales have increased 12% year-over-year. Footwear remains by far the largest division, followed by apparel and equipment.
Nike, Inc. Revenue by Product Category in Q2.
👟 $6.8 Billion
🎽 $3.6 Billion
🎒 $382 Million
✍️ Deal of the Week
Red Bull and Mercedes to compete in the America’s Cup!
We all had that one teacher in school that we absolutely loved to hate. Their classes were the worst, their homework the most difficult, and their grades the harshest. But as soon as it’s your last class with this teacher you start to feel a little bit sad, part of you might even miss them.
We imagine that is how the relationship between Red Bull and Mercedes is feeling right now. They may have taken every opportunity in 2021 to complain about each other, but as soon as they realized that the season was over they immediately couldn’t help it but keep the competition going.
Both Red Bull and Mercedes have entered into partnerships with separate Sailing teams that will compete against each other in upcoming America’s Cup races.
Following Mercedes F1’s partnership with the INEOS team, The Alinghi Sailing team has announced that they will be renamed Alinghi Red Bull Racing.
“We welcome Alinghi Red Bull Racing to the World of Red Bull, and our F1 team is looking forward to helping this new member of our family to succeed,” explained Christian Horner, the principal of Red Bull Racing.
“Red Bull Advanced Technologies will establish synergies with Alinghi Red Bull Racing. We will share our experiences, engineering tips, etc. It is two-way cooperation.” he continued.
Red Bull’s latest foray into the world of sailing is further evidence of the company’s plan to turn their F1 team into a full-blown technology powerhouse.
Messi reading this while waiting for his unpaid wages 👁👄👁