Mainz 05 voted in December for a possible investor entry into the DFL. Board member Christian Heidel spoke to SWR Sport about the vote and the ongoing fan protests.
Tennis balls, rubber ducks, gold coins, remote-controlled cars or model airplanes: almost no game in German professional football is without fan protests against the DFL’s investor decision. Long interruptions are the result at the home game 1. FSV Mainz 05 against FC Augsburg The ball couldn’t roll for more than twelve minutes in the second half.
Mainz 05 voted for possible investor entry at the DFL general meeting on December 11, 2023. Christian Heidel gave the reasons for the vote to SWR Sport: “We have to decide what is the best path for Mainz 05,” said the sports and communications director at Rheinhessen. “We voted for this investor concept because, as things stand, it is the only economic solution for Mainz 05. If there is another solution – without investors – we will be the very last ones who won’t think about it again.” 24 of the 36 clubs voted “yes” in December.
Christian Heidel misses alternatives Suggested solutions
With a view to the protests by fans that have been going on for weeks against the decision to bring in an investor, Heidel takes a stand: “I’m currently missing a bit of the argument for a different solution from my opponents, even here in Mainz. We’re all there open.” Calls for a new vote are currently getting louder, and more and more clubs from the Bundesliga and 2nd league are open to a new voting process for possible investor entry into the DFL. Most recently, Claus Vogt, President of VfB Stuttgart, among others, advocated new talks with the German Football League.
Investor at the DFL – What’s behind it?
With the entry of an investor, the German Football League wants to generate fresh money for the clubs in the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga. Two interested parties are still in the running. The financial investors CVC and Blackstone want to acquire shares in a DFL subsidiary, to which all media rights are outsourced, for 20 years. A minority stake of a maximum of eight percent is planned. This is expected to raise one billion euros.
Christian Heidel: “Then Mainz 05 would never agree”
Christian Heidel also takes the supporters’ concerns seriously. “I can somehow understand the fans’ fears. That’s why the contracts with possible strategic partners or investors, no matter what you call it, have been defined in exactly the same way,” said the 60-year-old. It is important to emphasize “that the investor has no influence whatsoever on when football games take place or where they take place. If that were the problem, then Mainz 05 would never agree.”
Broadcast on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, 6:00 a.m., SWR Aktuell in the morning, SWR Aktuell
