SYou call it an “impulse paper” and want to enrich the discussion about the redistribution of media revenues for the period between 2021 and 2025. Not a clumsy move for a group of 14 Bundesliga and second division clubs that politely and constructively articulate their growing lack of understanding about at least limited competition in the top German league and make suggestions on how the situation in the various table segments, which has been fairly cemented for some years, is loosened up , maybe even broken open. Under the leadership of the Bundesliga clubs DSC Arminia Bielefeld, 1. FSV Mainz 05 and VfB Stuttgart as well as the second division club SSV Jahn Regensburg, the concept, which was met with great understanding, is circulating.
Among other things, it suggests distributing the diverging media money in the national leagues more evenly than before and reducing the spread between the first and last of the table to a ratio of 2: 1, which has been extended over years to a ratio of 4: 1, as Marco Bode, the chairman of the Werder Bremen supervisory board, called for in the FAZ. Among other things, the competition has suffered from this over the past few years, but even more from the exorbitant fees from the Champions League marketing on the part of the European Football Union, which has led to an imbalance in the major national leagues.
“The Bundesliga has become less exciting”
In Germany, the record champions FC Bayern Munich have recently become the undisputed dominator, winning the German championship eight times in a row. Behind them a group of the almost permanent “Crown Prince” Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig as the third force and optionally Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Borussia Mönchengladbach, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, VfL Wolfsburg, and most recently Eintracht Frankfurt has formed, which does not open to Bayern the fur moves, but in the fight for the international places ambitious German competitors at a distance. The rest of them oscillate between midfield and the relegation zone, in which the climbers in particular had to fear the immediate relapse into second division.
The situation is completely different in the Second Bundesliga, whose competition promises more equilibrium – even in times when the former Bundesliga dinosaur Hamburger SV has already missed promotion twice. The four clubs, which are now calling for reforms without any militancy in their tone, are tired of being fobbed off like tolerated supplicants with containment arguments such as “you saw off the branch you are sitting on”, and formulate three core theses in the paper with substance. First: “The table is no longer a reflection of athletic performance, but primarily of financial opportunities.” Second: “The economic gap is widening.” Third: “And consequently: The Bundesliga has become less exciting – not only at the top.”
No new information, but findings from the middle of the two national leagues, which have sparked reform efforts in a growing number of clubs. The fact that the results of many games have become predictable has “among other things” to do with the “currently practiced distribution mechanism” of the payments, which are still lavishly distributed even in Corona times.
Careful redistributors
The “G14” of the Bundesliga does not want to change everything that is common practice in the distribution of television and streaming fees: The first Bundesliga should be able to continue planning with a “maximum” eighty percent of revenues, while “at least “Twenty percent of the fees for the second division remain. The five-year observation of sporting success on the basis of the season-end tables should not be shaken either. When channeling the flow of money, a mechanism is thought that is based on basic amounts for each club (fifty percent) and variable participation based on the table position.
In addition, the “relative sporting performance” will be rewarded in the future, i.e. from the media revenue participation or the amount of the licensed player budget compared to the number of points achieved or the place in the final table, which means that clubs with a solid economy like SC Freiburg for almost every year amazing sporting performance could get paid an extra fee again. In addition to maintaining the revenue pillar of successful youth work, the clubs that are traditionally particularly popular, contribute to the attractiveness of the Bundesliga and can refer to high audience figures, should ultimately be particularly rewarded. So clubs like VfB Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt, Werder Bremen or 1. FC Cologne.
“It is everyone’s responsibility to actively help shape a successful future for German professional football,” says the position paper, “together we can create a competitive situation from which both the national leagues and, as a result, our base, amateur sport, benefit in the long term The latter may be provided with a question mark. It is foreseeable, however, that the group of cautious redistributors will meet with open ears from a large number of fans. And that is why the initiative’s motto, “Solidarity for Competition”, is certainly not ineptly chosen.
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