A citizens’ movement presented the DFL with more than 9,000 signatures from a petition against the entry of an investor. A decision on the project is due today.
Before the beginning of an extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday (May 24th, 2023) in a hotel at Frankfurt Airport, the citizens’ movement “Finanzwende” handed over a petition with more than 9,000 signatures to DFL interim managing director Axel Hellmann. The petition demands that the league should not bring any investors on board.
At the meeting, a vote should be taken on whether the search for an investor for the DFL will continue. The meeting, scheduled for 11:30 a.m., started about 45 minutes late. FC St. Pauli had also applied for the decision to be postponed.
“Private equity? If your foot is in the door, the door can hardly be closed again”
The economist Jorim Gerrard, who is active for “Finanzwende”, explained in an interview with Sportschau why the movement had initiated the petition. A private equity company – and only that comes into question as an investor – will demand too much influence and thus have a significant impact on fan culture over the next 20 years.
“Once the private equity company has its foot in the door, it will be difficult for the German Football League to close this door again in the long term,” said Gerrard, who protested in front of the hotel in Frankfurt am Main on Wednesday (05/24/2023).
Fan scenes and several clubs criticize the entry of an investor
The possible entry of an investor was discussed controversially among the DFL clubs in the run-up to the meeting. The supporters, such as the managing directors of Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, SC Freiburg and Union Berlin, outline the deal as necessary to keep the Bundesliga internationally competitive. Objections to this came from representatives of FC St. Pauli and 1. FC Köln in particular, who criticized the expenditure of future income and the time pressure in the implementation.
There has been a clear rejection from the organized fan scenes in recent weeks, and there have been protests in almost all stadiums in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. One fear of fans and clubs who criticize the deal is that the investor will influence decisions made by the DFL. The DFL top assured again and again that this should be contractually excluded. However, the sports show revealed on the basis of internal DFL papers that the investor should be entitled to a kind of veto right for “business that is important” to him. When asked, the DFL did not explain what kind of business was meant.
Protests from Mönchengladbach fans against the possible DFL investor
Several third division clubs also expressed dissatisfaction with the DFL’s plans. They fear that they will be further left behind by the Bundesliga and argue that many of them have also contributed to building the Bundesliga brand in the past.
DFL plan: Two billion euros, a large part of it for the clubs
The DFL is planning to set up a subsidiary to bundle the TV rights there, which make up a large part of the income.
The core of the plan is as follows:
- An investor pays the league two billion euros.
- In return, 12.5 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the rights of this subsidiary are to be left to the partner for 20 years.
- The goal: The proceeds should increase overall and bring a lasting profit for everyone in addition to the billion payment.
40 percent of the money, which the investor pays, should remain with the DFL in order to promote the internationalization and digitization of the league. The most important element is the establishment and maintenance of a video platform to address a younger and international audience. In terms of foreign marketing, for example, the Bundesliga clearly lags behind the Spanish league.
60 percent of the money should go to the clubs in different ways. According to the DFL, a large part should flow earmarked into infrastructural measures at the clubs and cannot be freely put into the player squad or into debt reduction. That depends on the condition of the infrastructure of the individual clubs – those who need little or no infrastructural measures can use the remaining money freely. The money distribution should be based on the usual distribution according to the well-known TV key, in which the top clubs get more money and the clubs in the lower range less money.
In addition, 500 million, i.e. a quarter of the money hoped for from the possible business, are to be used to compensate for the missing income from the 12.5 percent of the rights that will go to the investor from now on.