Dusseldorf For sixteen years, Christian Seifert was the face of professional football in Germany – now the 52-year-old is becoming an entrepreneur. Together with the Axel Springer media group, Seifert wants to launch a sports streaming portal from autumn 2023. The publisher, known for “Bild” or “Welt”, announced this on Monday.
Handball, basketball or ice hockey from Germany are to be shown on the still nameless portal. Leagues that have not been the focus of reporting so far. In addition, the transmission of individual sporting events is planned, which could be world or European championships.
There is only one thing that shouldn’t be on the portal of the long-time boss of the German Football League (DFL): football. Springer is already showing the highlights of the Bundesliga via its Bild brand. “Germany is a sports-loving nation where millions of fans are also interested in sports other than football,” says Seifert. He wants to offer this large community a new home.
In the future, Seifert wants to promote precisely those sports that he had suppressed from public perception for years as a competitive football marketer with ever higher degrees in broadcasting rights. “Christian Seifert’s entry is positive news for handball, for sports such as basketball and ice hockey,” says sports marketing expert Peter Rohlmann. “The personnel will develop enormous momentum.”
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Seifert will enter a market that is very fragmented. Even the football reporting is spread over umpteen channels – also because of his work: In addition to the pay-TV channel Sky, the streaming portal Dazn shows pictures of the Bundesliga. Champions League or Europa League games are broadcast by the streaming providers RTL plus or Amazon.
Confusing streaming market
It is even more confusing with sports other than football. The public broadcasters ARD and ZDF are involved here, private broadcasters such as RTL or Sport 1, but also pay-TV broadcasters or Telekom’s streaming service, Magenta TV.
Both Axel Springer and Seifert must make it clear to the customer why another platform is needed for sports broadcasts, says streaming expert Bernd Riefler. “The size and notoriety of the players may help. But the refinancing will be sporty,” says the head of the Munich analysis house Veed Analytics.
Because with sports other than football, you reach fewer spectators and thus generate less revenue, he explains. On the expenditure side, the rights costs for sports such as handball or basketball are only traded for a fraction of the sums as in football. Nevertheless, the new offer would have to show several leagues in order to be attractive – that would increase the costs.
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But if anyone can master this challenge, it’s Seifert, says an observer from the sports world. Seifert will “open every door” in sport. In fact, the manager has decisively promoted the commercialization of football in Germany. From 2005 to the end of 2021 he managed the DFL, whose task is to organize the game operations and to further develop the brand.
Seifert always kept a certain distance from his trade. He was rarely seen in the stands at the stadium, and he considered the management skills of some clubs to be below average. In the first year of Corona, he set up a hygiene concept that made it possible to resume professional soccer games early on – as the first league in the world and as a role model for other leagues.
Marketing successes in football
During his tenure, using sophisticated tenders and auctions, Seifert managed to increase the marketing of the Bundesliga clubs’ TV rights from around 400 million euros per season to more than one billion euros. In the future, Seifert will be on the other side – with the buyers of such rights. With Axel Springer, Seifert has a partner at its side who has experience in the implementation of digital projects and in sales.
According to people around him, Seifert did not want to work with a TV station, and he also rejected a purely financial partner from the private equity scene. Only Springer remained in the local media scene. Publishing boss Mathias Döpfner says: “Sport belongs to Axel Springer. And we want to continue investing and growing in this area.”
According to Handelsblatt information, Seifert has been in talks with the heads of the German sports leagues since January. The first degrees are due in the summer. The marketing professional wants to gradually expand the portfolio until the market launch in autumn 2023.
Seifert is the founder of the Cologne-based start-up that operates the streaming platform. Springer takes over the majority of it. Seifert acts as managing partner and holds a significant minority stake through his investment firm Reedstreet Ventures, founded in October 2021. The company is named after the Schilfstrasse in Rastatt-Ottersdorf, where Seifert lived when he was young. Today the manager lives in Frankfurt.
Ambitious business manager
Seifert, who studied communication science, marketing and sociology and started his career at the MGM Media Group in Munich, is an ambitious business manager, equipped with a large network – and the necessary self-confidence. Before joining the DFL, he was on the board of Karstadt Quelle New Media AG between 2000 and 2005.
Seifert’s new task fits in with his commitment to Deutsche Sporthilfe, where he has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board since September 2021. The foundation aims to provide financial support to athletes in Olympic sports. He can help these athletes in particular to gain more publicity with the new streaming platform.
Sports marketing expert Rohlmann says: “If Seifert manages to get these team sports out of their niche, then he can add another success story to his career.” So far, there are hardly any people who would pay money to want to watch the volleyball league on television, for example .
The leagues should be visible on the portal itself, but also on existing platforms such as Magenta TV, which already broadcasts first division games such as basketball or ice hockey live. Expert Riefler thinks such partnerships make sense. “This gives the offer a greater reach.”
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