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American Football: ELF-Start mit Hamburg Sea Devils vs Frankfurt Galaxy

DLast week, the game ball was supposed to be delivered in style by a professional skydiver on the roof terrace of the “Hamburger Ding”, a coworking house on Nobistor – but the man missed his goal and instead landed down on the Reeperbahn. A botched dress rehearsal for the European League of Football (ELF), which this weekend wants to show with the first games that it can also be followed by a successful premiere in sport.

The major league project is being organized from Hamburg; the Sea Devils, a local team from the Hanseatic city, are among the eight participants. The first game of the Hamburg team against Frankfurt Galaxy will take place on Sunday at 2:45 p.m.

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The Hamburg-based Zeljko Karajica, as managing director, is one of the makers of the new European football league, which is supposed to present the sport so popular in the USA in Europe better than before. Football has long been pursued in different leagues and constellations on the old continent, but the big hit in marketing has not yet been achieved.

14 years ago, the last attempt at comprehensive marketing was stopped with the NFL Europe. Karajica now wants to start the next attempt, he believes that the potential is great. The former managing director of ProSieben Sat1 procured TV partners and sponsors, organized the game days as well as the stadiums and their teams: “It was a big logistical task to get the whole thing going.”

The ELF is a purely privately organized league in which eight so-called franchises are involved: The Hamburg Sea Devils, Frankfurt Galaxy, Berlin Thunder, Leipzig Knights, Cologne Centurions (Cologne) and Stuttgart Surge from Germany, the Barcelona Dragons from Spain and Wroclaw Panthers from Wroclaw, Poland. The season is short, with the final in Düsseldorf on September 26th.

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Finding a television partner was crucial. Karajica activated his network and convinced the ProSieben MAXX program managers of the experiment. Of course, showing all live games from the start of the league on the weekend is risky, that is clear to everyone. But we are totally optimistic, ”says the broadcaster’s sports director Alexander Rösner, who also looks after the streaming provider ran.de.

Taking “small steps” first was not an option. “If so, then all-in,” says Rösner. The games of the European league, which are not broadcast on ran.de or ProSieben MAXX, are shown in different languages ​​on the new TV channel “More Than Sports”. A separate channel was launched on Samsung, and Magenta Telekom is also on board as a partner.

As the head to the outside world, it is not Karajica who will present the league, but Patrick Esume, once a successful player in the Hamburg Blue Devils himself. His official name is “Commissioner of the ELF”. He is convinced that “this league will be the top European league right from the start, in terms of sport and media”. They want to grow in the second season at the latest, in five years 24 teams from ten European countries are to take part. At the start, the total budget of the league is in the lower double-digit million range.

“Our little Ronaldo,” says Zeljko Karajica of Kasim Edebali

“Our little Ronaldo,” says Zeljko Karajica of Kasim Edebali

Quelle: picture alliance/dpa

The Hamburg team had to reposition itself in terms of sport in order to be able to keep up with the big players. Kasim Edebali is the top player in the Sea Devils. The 31-year-old defensive end already had a college career in the US and was even under contract with NFL teams. “Our little Ronaldo,” says Karajica.

Frankfurt is his favorite in the ELF, and the Barcelona Dragons, Cologne and Wroclaw Panthers should also be mentioned, according to the expert. The Sea Devils will play their home games in the stadium on Hoheluftchaussee. For the first home game 1568 spectators were admitted, in the medium term even 8000 would be possible, believes Karajica.

As a TV man, he himself brought the NFL to German television in 2012 through the success of the Super Bowl broadcast. “The decade-long idea that it was a purely American sport has been disproved,” he said.

“I don’t really care about the competition”

A look at history shows that there is also a basic interest in Hamburg. The then Blue Devils won the prestigious Eurobowl three times between 1996 and 1998, and tens of thousands of spectators came to the games. Financing, however, remained difficult. Today the team plays in the regional league. ELF Commissioner Esume was part of this successful time of the Blue Devils, so he knows how football can work in Hamburg.

Jan-Phillip Bombek is also happy about the new league. The outside linebacker was signed by the Sea Devils. The Bergedorfer, who lived in the USA before Corona, was so successful as a college player there that he figured out chances of the NFL try-outs, the screening process for prospective professionals. Nothing came of that, now the 24-year-old wants to bring the Sea Devils forward. Like Edebali, Bombek has a little international flair, but also local flavor.

The players receive a small allowance for their commitment, but that’s probably not the point for most of them. His two ex-colleagues in the Hamburg Huskies youth team, Alexander Babic and David Weinstock, persuaded him to come to the Sea Devils. “I don’t really care about the competition,” says Bombek. “I want to play with friends, at a reasonable level on a European level.” Bombek is considered very ambitious. When fully trained, he weighs 117 kilos – from now on you will be able to see what that is enough for.

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