Munich The planned investor deal of the Bundesliga is in danger of failing. At the joint meeting of the executive committee and supervisory board of the German Football League (DFL), the association of 36 professional clubs, there was an open dispute, according to information from the Handelsblatt. After a partial sale of 15 percent of all media rights over 30 years was initially discussed months ago, it is now about 12.5 percent – based on most likely only 20 years.
According to Handelsblatt information, the “indicative offers” from Blackstone, KKR, EQT, Advent and CVC were still in the running, Bridgepoint was missing. The British financial company is apparently only available as a cooperation partner. The DFL round also talked about how the different offers could best be compared.
All in all, the partial sale, which is aimed for, should bring in proceeds of more than two billion euros. A number of clubs in the first and second leagues have great financial needs after the corona phase without spectators.
However, there are significant differences of opinion between the clubs. Surprisingly, even DFL co-managing director Oliver Leki from Freiburger SC spoke out against a longer sale of the rights in the six-hour meeting and pleaded for a period of 20 years.
BVB boss Watzke leads the investor advocates
The shorter the exploitation period, the less attractive the business would be for private equity investors: after a few years they make a living from finding a buyer who pays far more for the property they have acquired. A similar financial deal had already failed in 2021 during the tenure of former DFL boss Christian Seifert: At that time, private equity was supposed to be involved in the distribution of DFL foreign rights.
The fact that an extraordinary DFL general meeting of the 36 professional clubs is not scheduled to decide on the progress of the negotiations until May 24th speaks for new problems. According to the plan of the proponents of the deal, led by the Dortmund manager Hans-Joachim Watzke, the group of potential partners should then be limited to three financial firms. May 12 was originally announced internally as the date for the DFL special meeting.
The group around DFL supervisory board chairman Watzke wants to use the newly gained time to convince the opposition in informal meetings and to take more clubs than before for the intended partial sale. The first and second division teams should meet separately. Two thirds of the 36 clubs – i.e. 24 clubs – have to vote for the transaction. 13 no votes would be enough for a rejection.
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In the second division in particular, a majority appears to be against a deal with private equity firms. The insurgents against the Watzke model argue that taking out a loan to refinance is ultimately much cheaper than a partial sale to private equity. This form of financing should also be examined.
Among the first division clubs, FC Augsburg and 1. FC Köln are considered opponents of the deal. The Cologne manager Christian Keller was recently promoted to the DFL supervisory board with the votes of the second division even against the candidate of the Watzke faction. “Money and commerce should be a means to an end to make the game work better, but not the other way around,” he left as a message.
Fans are also protesting at the big Bundesliga clubs
Regarding the turbulent meeting on Tuesday, a press release from the DFL only says that “numerous suggestions were received and detailed questions discussed, which are incorporated into the overall concept”.
Such PR diplomacy does little to change the fact that top German football is divided on the issue of investor business. This was also evident last Friday at an informal meeting of the group of “fan-intensive” clubs such as VfL Bochum, Werder Bremen, Eintracht Frankfurt, Fortuna Düsseldorf and HSV. Half were pro-business, half anti-business.
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These clubs are under pressure from their fan groups, who hold banners in the stands at Bundesliga games to express their displeasure at the upcoming financial transaction. In the Borussia Dortmund game against Union Berlin a few weeks ago, fans from both camps sang together: “You are destroying our sport.” And the alliance “Südtribüne Dortmund” addressed the audience in an open letter: The planned investor deal was with the club’s basic code of values incompatible. Further protests have been announced for this Bundesliga weekend.
Many top clubs are therefore looking for a closer alliance with the fans in the tense atmosphere. Second division club Fortuna Düsseldorf plans to no longer charge admission for home games in the long term – this would be financed by companies such as Targobank, Hewlett-Packard or Provincial, which were won for three years with sponsorship of an estimated five million euros per annum.
Dreesen could go from Bayern Munich to the DFL
If the DFL were to make a big financial deal – which Deutsche Bank and Nomura are accompanying – the clubs should only have 200 million to 300 million euros at their disposal for player purchases and consultant fees. 650 million are to flow to the DFL, for example to set up a digital platform and for sustainability projects.
In addition to the dispute over money, there are also debates about the future management of the DFL. The Freiburg manager Leki and his Frankfurt colleague Axel Hellmann had taken over the post on an interim basis from the beginning of the year to the end of June after predecessor Donata Hopfen was not even able to stay on the post for a year.
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Most recently, Hellmann was considered the top candidate. Apparently he prefers to concentrate on Eintracht Frankfurt, where his contract, which runs until 2027, is to be better endowed in the future – with two million euros a year instead of the previous around 1.2 million, as “Bild” rumored. In Frankfurt, there had recently been fierce power struggles between the board of directors and the supervisory board.
The name of a shrewd financier is now being traded as a possible DFL boss: Jan-Christian Dreesen. After ten years he is leaving the board of directors of FC Bayern Munich. Uli Hoeneß, honorary president of the record champions, had already complained in February that his club’s influence on German football in the DFL and DFB areas was not enough for him: “It cannot be that the most important German club is so little represented there.”
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