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The fear is back: ghost games trigger existential worries

KPolitics, worries, even fear of existence: the return of the ghost games has once again set German professional sport in a mood of alarm in the face of many unanswered questions. While in outdoor soccer there is not only understanding for the hard cuts but also a lot of amazement, professional clubs in indoor sports such as basketball or ice hockey even fear for their existence.

“We have to deal with that first,” said Max Eberl, for example, and spoke of an “emergency game operation” that the Bundesliga must now switch to. The sports director of Borussia Mönchengladbach is affected in several ways: The classic for the second half of the season opener at Bayern Munich on January 7, 2022 (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and at Dazn) will certainly be the first ghost game in the new year, then wait two home games in a row on Borussia and thus another million loss.

The official decision will be made on January 7th, but there will most likely be empty stadiums for much longer. Borussia Dortmund, for example, has already announced that the home game against SC Freiburg on January 14th “could / should be affected”. The short question about “How long?” Was answered by BVB in a similarly concise manner: “We don’t know.”

1.8 million euros in revenue loss per game

While the German Football League (DFL) called the step “regrettable but understandable”, there was also criticism. Managing director Alexander Wehrle from 1. FC Köln emphasized on Wednesday, when asked by SID, that “the stability of the health system is paramount”. At the same time, however, he said: “All the findings that we have from the health authorities say that there were no hotspots, especially at open-air events.”

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According to Wehrle, FC must expect a loss of 1.8 million euros in sales per game. “That also means that we have to take measures in the next few weeks and months to compensate for these sales losses,” he said. Bayern Munich even loses four to five million euros in every home game without a spectator.

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