This Wednesday, ESPN.com.br published details of the audit commissioned by the current Corinthians board of directors for the consultancy Ernst & Young about the club’s financial situation.
The numbers are alarming.
The club’s debt today would be R$2.1 billion.
In the club’s balance sheet, already released by the current management, the gross debt would be R$1.96 billion, with R$1.26 billion from the club and R$703 million from the stadium (financing with Caixa Econômica Federal).
In the presentation to advisors, Corinthians also shows the debt with another calculation, net. According to this criterion, the balance is slightly lower: R$1.58 billion.
According to ESPN.com.br, Corinthians nominated for the Ernst & Young who wants to follow Flamengo’s path of reconstruction, for whom the company did similar work in 2013, before the process that transformed the red-and-black club from a broken club to the greatest economic power in South America.
In 2013, the blog sought out what the size of Flamengo’s debt was at the time, according to the same Ernst & Young, which helped the red-and-black team later in its financial recovery.
At the time, Flamengo owed R$750.738 million.
In current values, with the INPC correction, one of the country’s official inflation indices, this number today corresponds to R$1.399 billion, or R$700 million less than Corinthians current debt.
In 2013, Flamengo’s then financial vice-president, Rodrigo Tostes, spoke about the club’s long road to getting out of the hole.
“This is bad news in principle, without a doubt. It was more than expected. But we will be able to turn this game around. We are just at the beginning. Is the debt payable? Yes, without a doubt. But not in the short term.”
And he admitted that difficult days were ahead.
“I’m not going to mention a deadline (about when the debt would be paid). It would be a kick, a trick. We restructure the debt, maintain the certificates and bring new projects to Olympic sports. Our day, our reality, no matter how hard it is , is to live one day at a time and comply with taxes, employees.”
To see if Corinthians has the same patience.
