2023-05-25 11:41:33
DFL top reacts annoyed to the billion dollar deal that has burst
After the insufficient majority, the DFL leadership around Supervisory Board Chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke could not hide their disappointment at the failed billion-dollar deal. While Watzke took refuge in irony, Hellmann criticized his opponents directly.
After the failed entry of an investor, German professional football is more divided than ever. The big players in the industry in particular are struggling with the decision. Christian Seifert outlines what led to the plans that ended with a bang.
Dhe former DFL boss Christian Seifert expects a standstill after the billion-dollar deal in the German Football League collapsed. “If everyone pulls in different directions, then nothing moves in the end,” said Seifert at an event organized by the Frankfurt law firm Klinkert. The interests of the 36 clubs are too different.
“In the Bundesliga, about ten clubs have international ambitions,” said the longtime DFL boss, but the league association consists of 36 clubs. The decision against an investor will “result in a few clubs having an even harder time internationally,” predicts the 54-year-old. In his opinion, by implication, “the mindset of having to invest in order to compete internationally” is largely ignored by many clubs.
Christian Seifert, founder and shareholder of the sports streaming service Dyn
Source: pa/dpa/Marcus Brandt
Seifert suggested questioning the structure of the DFL. He was Managing Director of the Association of Professional Clubs for 16 years until 2021. Since retiring, the 54-year-old, who is currently building up the sports streaming service Dyn (like WELT, belongs to Axel Springer SE), has spoken publicly about the Bundesliga for the first time.
The DFL wanted to redeem two billion with the deal
The planned entry of an investor in a new subsidiary of the DFL had previously failed. A corresponding application did not receive the required two-thirds majority among the 36 first and second division clubs at the extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday afternoon. Although 20 clubs voted in favor, that was not enough with eleven votes against and five abstentions. The DFL leadership had promised fresh capital of around two billion euros from the deal.
In the meantime, FC Bayern has reacted to the premature end of the hoped-for billion-dollar deal and even sees it as a danger in international comparison. “The aim was to strengthen the Bundesliga and the second division. With this model, the larger clubs would have shown a lot of solidarity with the smaller ones,” said Munich CEO Oliver Kahn: “Now there is a risk that the gap to England and Spain will continue to grow. And that would be damaging for all clubs, big and small.”
Schalke 04 belonged to those who did not agree
In particular, the money should be used to strengthen the overall marketing of the Bundesliga, primarily abroad. Nationally and internationally, FC Bayern is by far the biggest draw. If approved, the DFL would have outsourced the national and international media rights to a subsidiary called DFL MediaCo GmbH & Co. KGaA. A potential investor, three of whom were originally interested, was to acquire 12.5 percent of the new company for a period of 20 years.
FC Schalke 04 was one of those who did not approve the application for an investor to join. According to the club’s management, there are “too many open questions at the moment – including the business plan, new appointments to the management and the distribution mechanism. ”
The Bundesliga club, threatened with relegation, demanded a different view of things, especially when it came to the distribution of funds. “The clubs with the largest number of fans in particular, which contribute to the attractiveness beyond the sporting success, should be given more consideration in the distribution. A distribution that is based too much on sporting success does not maximize the attractiveness of the Bundesliga. That’s why we couldn’t approve the application today,” chairman Bernd Schröder was quoted as saying in a statement from the Revierklub.
For DFL supervisory board chairman and BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke, a possible entry of an investor after the vote is off the table. “Sometimes life is simple. This is democracy. There was a clear majority, but not the one we wanted. So that’s the end of the topic … But you don’t have to burn off such smoke candles a week beforehand. It’s so ridiculous that it’s suddenly because it’s not yet clear who will eventually be the managing director (the new DFL boss is not to be presented until July, the DFL is currently being managed on an interim basis, the editors). That’s total bullshit – and up until a week ago nobody in the committees ever noticed it. This is a completely, completely new discussion,” said Watzke.
According to Watzke with a hint of gallows humor, the topic of competitiveness is “obviously not that important to some, otherwise the barrier for the next phase would have been removed. We will receive constructive suggestions from those who did not vote in the coming weeks. I’m very, very convinced of that.”
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