Good news for Athletic. The Government has approved today a Royal Decree that frees Athletic from the losses caused by Covid-19, according to EFE. This measure also affects the other three clubs that are sports societies, Barça, Real Madrid and Osasuna.
The Council of Ministers has brought forward a Royal Decree that establishes special and temporary conditions for the application of the guarantee compensation regime on sports corporations, to face the impact of the coronavirus, at the proposal of the Minister of Culture and Sports.
As reported by the Higher Sports Council (CSD), the approved regulations will be applied in all those financial years in which the measures against the pandemic that affect the income of the clubs are maintained, especially, the limitation of public access to stadiums.
The objective “is to mitigate the incidence of losses derived from the pandemic, by exempting it from the system for calculating the guarantees to be deposited annually by the members of the boards of directors of professional clubs. In this way, the adverse effects derived from the health crisis caused by COVID-19 can be prevented from disproportionately damaging their personal assets ”.
The CSD pointed out that the incidence of the health crisis “has had a special impact on professional clubs that were not forced to become a sports corporation”, according to Law 10/1990, since they are subject to a specific and personal liability regime of its executives through the creation of guarantees before LaLiga for the amount corresponding to 15% of the budget of expenses for the year in which the board of directors begins its management.
He also referred to the effect that the stoppage of competitions and the lack of public attendance has had on the results of the clubs and assured that “despite the implementation of cost containment measures, it has not been possible to reverse the negative influence caused by the pandemic in club assets ”at the end of the 2019-20 season.
“This loss of income would activate the mechanism of the guarantee compensation regime, raising by a considerable percentage the amount guaranteed by the personal assets of the members of the boards of directors of professional clubs,” said the CSD.