With only seven points on the agenda, the only one of which having its own role is the ratification of the appointment of Joaquín as administrator, the general meeting that the Real Betis will celebrate next Tuesday, December 16, from … from 5:00 p.m. at the Barceló Renacimiento hotel will have as its own name the new Benito Villamarín stadiumwith the news and vicissitudes of its renovation process, tenders for the works, delays, circumstances related to the transfer to the Cartuja, future performances, special financing and other issues that affect the present and future of the green and white entity, installed in a good sporting current and with greater economic stability, offering revenue and investment figures higher than those of previous years and oriented towards growth in all areas. The board of directors headed by Ángel Haro and José Miguel López Catalán Thus, they face an assembly in which there is practically no opposition noise but in which they will listen and have to give explanations on everything related to the stadium, once the sporting concerns are resolved with the stadium renovations. Manuel Pellegrini and Isco.
The result that the team could obtain on Monday at Vallecasgiven that the Verdiblancos are doing very well in Europe, in their logical positions in La Liga and looking to advance to the next round of the Copa del Rey on Thursday. This will not happen like in other Betis events in which the immediately preceding match had a lot of importance for the general atmosphere. The derby victory and strong standing in the standings as well as the aforementioned contract extensions of Pellegrini and Isco left the situation calm. Of course, it is expected that there will be questions and comments about how the negotiation with the coach was carried out, as the entity changes its approach compared to previous years and lets time pass with the current season.
Beyond all this and taking into account that the points on the agenda relate to the examination and classic approval of the annual accounts, the application of the exercise, the management, the election of the auditor for the years to come and the authorization of taxation, acquisition or transfer of essential assets, only the curiosity of the appointment of Joaquín and the re-election to the council of Haro and Catalángiven that they exercise their mandate five years after the 2020 meeting in which their continuity was voted again, they will break this sequence of calm beyond everything related to the Benito Villamarín stadium.
Among them are two main issues: deadlines and cost. The club has already announced that the award process had to be modified because the competition concluded without agreement with any candidate construction company and that a new formula was sought to divide the work and try to reduce the investment, which the entity recognizes leaves hup to 160 million euros while the initial idea was budgeted between 70 and 100. In the information provided to shareholders in the weeks preceding the meeting, it is explained that in the stadium renovation works, “the demolition and foundation chapters have begun by contracting separately in principle, to respect the planned schedule, while the process of tendering and awarding the contract for the execution of the project is taking place, which, as of the date of preparation of these accounts, has not yet been completed in due to the lack of definition in some points of the architectural project This is a collaborative negotiation with a limited group of construction companies, two or three, so that these economic, technical and deadline requirements can be respected in the agreement. Instead of a single company carrying out the three phases of excavation, containment and construction, these are separate and will be carried out through independent tenders: demolition, work which is currently being carried out by the company Erri Berri and which will continue during the month of November; excavation and containment.
“For the financing of the project, there is an agreement, pending the award of the contract for the execution of the work for its final formalization. The financing agreement is planned with a financial entity of recognized solvency over a long period for its amortization and on the basis of economic studies carried out by independent third parties which guarantee that the additional income obtained in the new stadium covers not only the debt service, but they significantly increase the company’s cash flow», Continues the club. In this sense, the entity has reformulated its financing methods during this period, seeking to adapt the new circumstances to this reality. LaLiga Impulso (CVC) funds are essential in this sense. And the idea is that it is the stadium itself which generates income which can allow the club not only to finance a large part of this work but also to be one of the economic lungs of Betis in the years to come.
The president of Verdiblanco himself, Ángel Haro, spoke about these points before the trip to Zagreb to play the sixth match of the championship phase of the Europa League, which ended with a 1-3 victory: “I believe that the three years are practically unthinkable. They will not be less. Four no. These are the three years we are thinking about now. Which, honestly, used to be two and a half years with the hypothesis we were working on. Now, two and a half, three years. We now know clearly that this will take approximately three years. Betis do not want any delays beyond this date given that they have already demolished the Préférence stand and intend to decide on the tender for the works in early 2026.
Cartuja, the big bet
The question of deadlines worries the ordinary Beticians, who will express themselves in this way in the various interventions planned during the meeting, as well as the adaptation to the stay at the Cartuja, very close to the place where the assembly will be held, with the inconveniences due to access, mainly. The club has insisted to the relevant authorities to improve the experience of Green and White supporters entering and exiting the stadium where the team will have to play not only this season but also 26-27 and 27-28.
In this way, everything related to the new Benito Villamarín stadium and the recent transfer for three seasons to La Cartuja will be at the center of a relatively calm general assembly in which, in large numbers, the Betis board of directors will present a profit for the 2024-25 season of 5.5 million euros before taxes (4.5 after), with the growth in the net amount of turnover from 138.6 million during the previous campaign to 150.6 million during the last and with a perspective towards the negative net value of 39.8 million due to the losses carried over from previous years although the accounting is conditioned by the 70.8 million of the participatory credit (CVC) which makes it possible to record a positive net value of 30.9 million.
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