In the joint corona struggle for existence, german pro soccer jerked together by a huge amount, but the solidarity cuddling course is already over again in the billion-dollar business.
No sooner had DFL boss christian seifert announced the payout of 4.4 billion euros from the TV rights for the 2021/22 to 2024/25 seasons than the bundesliga clubs were getting into position for the rough fight for the money.
The top clubs in international demand, such as subscription champion bayern munchen or pursuer borussia dortmund, want to continue collecting their millions according to the league’s previous distribution formula. "In germany, there is a very solidary, balanced distribution of TV money: the champion receives twice as much TV income as the team at the bottom of the table," bayern boss karl-heinz rummenigge told the "handelsblatt" newspaper.
BVB managing director hans-joachim watzke also thinks nothing of a new distribution key. The "status quo" is correct, he told the newspapers of the "funke mediengruppe" and emphasized: "if you try to weaken the draught horses of the league, then you weaken the whole league."
The "little ones" in the industry see things quite differently. In the future, they want to get a bigger slice of the already shrunken pie – especially with the loss of eurosport, which will be short up to 150 million euros in the next season. "I think that everyone has understood by now that it would also be good if a generation of children grew up that didn’t only experience bayern munchen as champions," werder bremen’s managing director klaus filbry told the "weser-kurier" and demanded: "we have to focus on the distribution of national and international media lots in order to achieve a fair competition with integrity."
For all clubs, the uncertain situation caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is an enormous challenge. Seifert therefore expects a very intense debate in the coming weeks. The german soccer league’s executive committee meets this wednesday to discuss the near future of corona and the upcoming distribution of funds.
Seifert described the discussion about this as "just as strenuous" as the negotiations with the media partners, which – probably also because of the corona crisis – this time brought in around 240 million euros less than in the current rights cycle. What he meant by that was immediately clear from a look at the first reactions of the clubs. Although the positive result of the DFL was praised throughout. But opinions differ widely on what should happen with the money now.
Like filbry, fortuna dusseldorf’s chief executive thomas rottgermann calls for redistribution. "We have been talking for years about the widening gap between the clubs, but we are doing nothing about it. The crisis has held up a mirror to us, and now is the time to make a change. We don’t need a money distribution that cements the current situation," the 59-year-old said. It would be a mistake to continue to provide the top clubs with money in order to demand international competitiveness.
In the 2018/19 season, bayern munchen, as the league’s crosus, received 65.4 million euros from national rights exploitation, more than two and a half times as much money as the dusseldorf team, which collected around 25 million euros. Jan lehmann, CFO of FSV mainz 05, fears that the slight drop in TV money will have a harsher impact "especially on the smaller clubs, which, like us, are relatively more dependent on media revenues than on other income.
In the current cycle, there are four pillars for the distribution of TV money. At 70 percent, and thus by a wide margin the most, a national funf-year ranking, in which the past season has the roughest weight, pays off. The champion receives 5.8 percent of the prize money, while the last-place finisher receives 2.9 percent. The factors of sustainability (5 percent), young talent (2 percent) and competition (23 percent) also play a role.
Many of the consequences that the smaller clubs in particular are denouncing have become clearly visible in the past few years of the bundesliga. In addition to perennial champions bayern (eight titles in a row), the same clubs – dortmund, leverkusen, schalke, leipzig and gladbach – usually play for champions league qualification. It seems almost impossible to establish yourself in the bundesliga as a long-standing second division club. Furth, braunschweig, paderborn, ingolstadt, darmstadt and nurnberg were relegated in the past decade, at the latest in the second year of the bundesliga.
Above all the demands for change, there is still a great deal of uncertainty about corona. With the rapid continuation of the season, a worst-case scenario has been averted for the time being, but the danger is far from over. Can the new season continue in september?? May have to be interrupted again? When will the clubs be allowed to let their fans into the stadium again, and what kind of spectator revenue can be planned for?? All these questions are open.
As in the negotiations with the current and future TV partners sky, DAZN, ARD and ZDF, the talks with the 36 first and second league teams will also depend on seifert’s skill. "I would like the discussions to be conducted with decency and vision," said the DFL boss. "Whether this should be based solely on whether someone has won the championship eight times in a row remains to be seen. That is certainly not the only criterion."
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