Look at Barca's stadium and commercial revenue.
Without Messi and no fans, that comes down significantly.
I read a stat which says 70% of the Barca jerseys sold worldwide are Messi's. It explains why despite him burdening their wage bill, they are desperate to hang on to him for the commercial benefits that he brings.
Sells from jerseys are really a small part of the commercial revenues if I’m not mistaken.
Premier League clubs, Barca and Real Madrid have a big advantage in domestic tv revenue. PL clubs for that insane deal obviously, and in La Liga there is no (or at least a lot less) ‘fair share’ between clubs, meaning that both Real and Barca get significantly more than all the other clubs, where the money in Serie A is shared more equally. That’s the first advantage.
There’s also the gap between Barca and Real in club coefficients, meaning they get more money from the CL based on performances last 10 years.
And the way those clubs have positioned themselves post-Calciopoli, during times that foreign (non-EU) investors invested a lot in Europe is paying off, Serie A has killed itself and was sleeping after that, we became a sleeping giant where other leagues and clubs are more modern structured, reaching a very big audience all around this world.
Those stadium revenues are also insanely different. So hard for us to keep up. We want to surpass them and that’s the exact reason why the board made unpopular choices like changing our logo and selling the stadium name.
I should take some time to study Bayern, if I’m not mistaken they have great commercial revenues aswel.
Hopefully good times wil come with the new tax rules and the new Serie A tv deal. And we invested a lot to sell our own merchandise, the hotel etc, curious when those things will really pay off.