Pique's "joke league" brings Barca $2.5 million and 92,522 people to Camp Nou

When Gerard Pique formed King's League, a strange and novel mix of futsal, e-sports, entertainment and social media, most people though that the former Barcelona defender was losing his mind amid a graceless ending to his playing career and the rough divorce from his wife Shakira. But he knew what he was doing.

Final four tournament of the King's League was played at Barclona's Camp Nou stadium with an incredible attendance of 92,522. Although games in earlier stages were held at a smaller venue in the city of Barcelona, Pique struck a deal with his old club to make it a special occasion at the iconic stadium. The huge attendance brought and estimated profit of $2.5 million to Barcelona, which isn't bad at all for somehting that is just a fun passtime.

It's worth noting that many thousands of those present at Barcelona's stadium on Sunday afternoon were chanting Lionel Messi's name. Since the vast majority of those present were Barcelona fans, it was a message for club president Joan Laporta to bring back their old Argentinean hero.

The majority of the revenue will likely come from ticket sales, with the club presumably agreeing a deal with King’s League over the share of revenues.

Pique is one of the masterminds of the King’s League, so it is not surprising to see the two entities jointly profiting from the event. He spearheaded the idea to bring the event to Camp Nou, knowing the money would help the club in dire times. Although marginal, the revenue should help Barcelona, in their bid to control their finances ahead of the summer transfer window. The club are indeed running the risk of economic sanctions amid an inflated squad budget.