CN Sabadell is one of the great clubs in Spain, with a social mass that came to exceed 30,000 members and now oscillates around 25,000. In the 2018-19 season, it consumed 15,080 MWh of electricity, gas (added the thousand m3 of water) and paid 1,240,000 euros. The 2022-23 course has budgeted a consumption of 10,894 (35% less) but will pay 2,338,000 euros (80% more). “The circle is dangerous. The wolf has arrived and it is not the one from the story”comments Claudi Martí, the president of a club that feeds Olympic athletes to the water polo and swimming teams.
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The rise in energy prices affects any pocket, but especially clubs specializing in water sports. “We call them the three axes of evil: energy costs, the rise in CPI and variable credit financing”explains Ricardo Ruiz, manager of ACEDYR (Association of Sports and Recreational Clubs and Entities), who insists that solutions are scarce. “The clubs can lower the temperature of the water, restrict hot water, change the lighting… But in the end, everything requires investment and there are the credits”, he insists, showing again that economic labyrinth with no short-term exits. “The situation is not for clubs to close, we have not encountered these situations yet, but it will be difficult for them to last like this for a long time,” he concludes.
To ACEDYR’s concern, Martí puts concrete facts. “You can control consumption, but not prices. Of the six pools we have, there will be two that we cannot heat. We have made investments of 200,000 euros to place leds while there will be common spaces that we will not heat”adds the president of CN Sabadell, who reiterates that the club will present losses of around 300,000 euros and that the accumulated losses in recent years, aggravated by the pandemic, already exceed one million. “We have reduced costs and recovered income, but we have also activated levers. In this case, the outsourcing of new paddle tennis courts. The financial cost is rising”he warns.
This apocalyptic situation does not currently have broad support from the institutions. Recently, the Higher Sports Council (CSD) has approved some aid for all those entities that have hosted international events. A few clubs, such as CN Sabadell, to which a total of five million will be allocated if they carry out any energy renovation. Minuta minuta according to the figures that are handled. Martí aims to promote an idea that already occurs in other countries to increase the number of members, and it is tax relief, something from which CN Sabadell benefits in part.
“The partner pays 12% or 13% more than before the pandemic. It costs less for the partner to be a partner because we have activated the tax deduction. 25% of the fee is returned to you because it enters the concept of donation. We are working towards that, hopefully it can be generalized”, says the president of CN Sabadell, who also points out that having powerful teams, in this case water polo, is not incompatible with the service provided to members. “Professional water polo costs the partner nothing. We have subsidies and aid with which we finance ourselves. Of the three million income a year from fees, only 600,000 go to competitive sports, but to the base, to promotion, not to the first teams.