SThey fought for a long time and tried a lot – to no avail. Not only Frankfurt Universe, but nine more of a total of 16 German Football League (GFL) clubs pulled out the so-called “exit option” on Friday and did not start in a shortened first-season replacement season in American football.
In the months of the pandemic crisis, the Frankfurt team had always communicated its expectations and attitudes to possible game operations openly and critically to the league and its organizers, the American Football Association Germany (AFVD). Which was not well received everywhere. Alexander Korosek, the managing director of Frankfurt Universe, could not speak for the league, GFL spokesman Carsten Dalkowski criticized Frankfurt’s offensive approach to planning a corona football season.
Now, however, the majority of the clubs have spoken for themselves and probably also for the league and have announced that they will not start in the 2020 season. The GFL is plunging into a deep crisis. The tailwind that football had felt last year with the successful organization of the German Bowl final in the Frankfurt World Cup arena has turned. Because ten clubs made a decision that was essential for most of them for one important reason: concern for the health of everyone involved. For this reason alone, the withdrawal of the clubs is a comprehensible, correct decision.
But there are other reasons why so many in German football shook their heads and signaled both to the league and certainly much more to the association: better not. Of course, it is also the fear of the economic risks of a pandemic season. Which sponsors remain on board, how many spectators are allowed to enter the stadium, what will the hygiene concept look like, how expensive will it be? Robert Huber, the president of the AFVD, has tried to motivate the clubs to take the risk. He even lured the state with the prospect of money, which is supposed to compensate for 80 percent of the missing audience revenue. But there are skeptical voices that indicate that probably only Olympic sports could benefit from such an aid payment.
And then there’s the club’s trust in the league’s pledges. It has been shaken. The GFL had promised their clubs that they would be able to keep the license and that they would not have to pay any fines if they decided not to start the 2020 season. But the association overruled the league and acted differently without consultation.
If you don’t play, you have to return your license and only get it back in a 2021 season if the reason for the withdrawal seems conclusive. Otherwise, sanction payments are also possible. Such an approach cannot help create something that a league needs more than ever before: mutual trust. And that’s why so many clubs have decided against starting the season. You play it safe.
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