Billion-euro temptation: Third DFL attempt with investors

Soccer - Billion-euro temptation: Third DFL attempt with investors

The German Football League (DFL) will no longer be able to convince many supporters in the Bundesliga stands. And it is highly questionable whether it will be able to persuade a sufficient number of clubs in its third attempt to secure an investor deal worth billions.

In any case, the criticism and rejection are clearly audible ahead of the general meeting next Monday. While there has only been very timid public support so far and the DFL remains silent.

The fans are once again the loudest. They are also in the spotlight because the new DFL management does not want to comment on the issue. A lengthy statement on their own homepage is the only public statement apart from a few sentences from the head of the supervisory board, Hans-Joachim Watzke, in an interview about his home club Borussia Dortmund.

The simple version of the critics in the curve is simply: "Shit DFL!" That's what fans from Freiburg and Mainz sang on Sunday. The joint campaign by supporters of both clubs also included two banners with the inscriptions: "For sustainable soccer" and "Against investors in clubs and associations".

Fan representatives fear distortion of competition

The fan interest group "Unsere Kurve" (Our Curve) has also taken a clear stance and "completely rejects this attempt by the DFL to bring in investors", said Jost Peter, 1st chairman of "Unsere Kurve", to the German Press Agency. "According to current calculations, the model strengthens the top third of the DFL leagues, while two thirds of the clubs can only expect minimal improvements. In conjunction with the already unfair distribution of TV money, small additional revenues will ultimately lead to ever greater distortion of competition."

Several clubs are coming under pressure from their own fans in the discussion, as they clearly contradict the club management. The example of Werder Bremen shows this. The chairman of the supervisory board, Hubertus Hess-Grunewald, said at the general meeting: "We need a strategic partner in order to be able to cope with the enormous efforts of the future." At the next home game, the response from the fans was: "Quick money from investors instead of creative solutions? The easy way was never the green-white way. You are not Werderites!"

Hoffenheim and Heidenheim open to investor involvement

Other clubs have it easier because their fan scene is not as loud and dominant. Hoffenheim's managing director Denni Strich explained: "We are positive about working with a strategic partner. We have communicated this to our fan scene in a constructive exchange." And the management of 1. FC Heidenheim has explained to its fan advisory board that they are "positively disposed" towards a strategic marketing partnership under certain conditions.

Some clubs have already made it clear that they will once again vote against the deal, such as 1. FC Köln. "The DFL has significantly improved its investor proposal. But unfortunately it has still not sufficiently examined whether there are more sensible alternatives to a private equity investor," Vice President Eckhard Sauren told "Sportschau": "We continue to believe it is imperative that only the 36 professional clubs decide on the development of German professional soccer and that no private equity company sits at the table."

Freiburg's change of opinion

At least one club has even changed its mind and is no longer a supporter: SC Freiburg has come to "a different assessment" of the new model, as the management board and supervisory board wrote. They are convinced "that the significantly reduced investment volume, which will also be spread over several years, should be financed from the club's own resources (internal financing)". Piquant: SCF managing director Oliver Leki was still one of the supporters during his time as interim managing director of the DFL.

Since the failed attempt in the spring, only Watzke has provided arguments for the investor deal in public in an interview with "Ruhr Nachrichten". "We have to invest in foreign marketing," said the DFL supervisory board member, who appeared rather bad-tempered and personally offended after the failed two-thirds majority in the spring.

"We don't have this money freely available. That's why our approach is to find a strategic partner who can finance our expansion and provide expertise," explained the BVB boss. "And in return, the partner receives a certain percentage of the marketing revenue."

DFL opts for a slimmed-down solution

After a first attempt under the then DFL boss Christian Seifert and a second failed in the spring, a kind of light version of the May model is now up for approval. In a nutshell: A financial investor is to pay one billion euros for a percentage share of the TV revenues. According to dpa, the percentage is a matter of negotiation: the smaller the offer, the less the league would have to give up. Six companies are said to have expressed an interest.

The contract is to have a maximum term of 20 years and be signed until the start of the 2024/25 season. A large part of the revenue is to be used to further develop the DFL business model, in particular to strengthen international marketing and prevent piracy. Details were explained to the clubs in two meetings on November 2 and 6. Some fan representatives also received explanations at a meeting with DFL management.

Will the required two-thirds majority be achieved this time? "The mood has changed among a number of clubs who voted against it back then," said Watzke. But there has also been movement in the other direction, as the head of the DFL supervisory board knows and commented: "I can't understand that."