There was resistance to investors not only in the clubs themselves, but also in the stadium and among fans.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The Bundesliga has to bury its hopes of billions from investors first. In a general meeting of the 36 professional clubs in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga on Wednesday in Frankfurt, a corresponding plan failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority.
20 of the clubs agreed, 11 voted against, and there were five abstentions, explained Joachim Watzke, head of the supervisory board and spokesman for the executive committee of the German Football League (DFL). “The process is over, that’s democracy,” said the Borussia Dortmund football official on Wednesday in Frankfurt. Watzke said he would have supported an investment “with all his heart”.
The overall marketing of the Bundesliga, primarily abroad, should have been strengthened with the private equity money, where Germany is left behind by the competition from England. For the league, the failure of the project means that the planned investment framework for strengthening foreign marketing is not given, commented Watzke: “In the league, the issue of competitiveness is obviously not that important to some.”
He rejected raising outside capital to finance the planned digital expansion, as suggested by some clubs. “I wouldn’t take part in the league’s debts up to a neck ruff.” One must now be aware of the consequences of the vote. “Keeping it up will be a complicated undertaking,” said co-interim managing director Oliver Leki.
Hellmann also sees a missed opportunity for the DFL
Axel Hellmann, also co-managing director until the end of June, added: “I’m 100 percent convinced that we missed a good chance of repairing the roof structure as long as it doesn’t go deeper into the next floors or even the foundation touched.”
In the bidding process, several financial investors submitted preliminary bids for a 12.5 percent share of the media rights revenues for the next 20 years. DFL members only voted on Wednesday whether to continue negotiations.
The DFL had hoped to get up to two billion euros in the coffers. The money is intended in particular to strengthen the overall marketing of the Bundesliga, primarily abroad, where Germany is lagging behind the competition from England, for example.
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