NMany officials are still refusing to accept the downturn in the football business, which seemed to be growing without limits until the Corona pandemic, many stadiums are full again and the Bundesliga is very exciting. Clubs like SC Freiburg or Union Berlin are growing extremely fast, but many clubs are feeling that their business is becoming increasingly difficult.
At Fortuna Düsseldorf, for example, a fundamental analysis of their own situation led to a radical idea. Under the slogan “Fortuna for everyone”, the club presented a vision for the future on Wednesday, which focuses on the idea that spectators should no longer pay to visit the stadium in the future. First of all, the people will get free entry to three games in the coming season, including the supporters of the respective visiting club. “But our big goal is to offer 17 free games per season,” said Alexander Jobst, the chairman of the second division club.
However, free access to the stadium is just one aspect of the “path to the future” Jobst was talking about. “We want to make first-class football possible for Fortuna in our city in the long term. We want to show what Fortuna stands for.” It is no longer possible for this club to “continue like this” in the current competitive environment. It could not be ignored that the revolutionary idea did not come from a position of strength, the new approach should rather make it possible “to master the challenges of an economically declining football market,” said Björn Borgerding, the chairman of the Düsseldorf supervisory board. For this reason, he had long ago explicitly asked the board to develop bold ideas, which four new major sponsors were now enthusiastic about as a first step.
45 million euros for Fortuna
These companies will invest a total of 45 million euros in Fortuna over a period of five years. This money is intended to compensate for the financial loss caused by the public’s free access to home games. The club currently takes in a higher single-digit million amount with ticketing per season. But the concept goes well beyond the idea of free tickets. Rather, Fortuna should grow, gain profile and also make sporting progress.
Fortuna causes a sensation: is the classic payment concept being turned on its head?
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Image: dpa
In addition to a share for the professional squad, 20 percent of the income generated in this way will flow into youth and women’s football, the same amount is earmarked for the expansion of the digital infrastructure of the stadium, where games of the European Championship will also be held next year. In addition, ten percent are intended for sustainability projects and mass sport in the city. “It’s an innovative concept, it’s an idea that will anchor Fortuna much further in the city,” said Düsseldorf Mayor Stephan Keller, “we’re creating a link between professional and popular sport.”
Meanwhile, it is somewhat unclear how the long-standing main sponsor Henkel will react to the new companies alongside Fortuna. Because the new sponsors will benefit more from the image-building effects of the free games. But in the end, everyone involved would benefit if the plan worked out in the medium term. In any case, the club expects an improved utilization of the stadium, 54,600 people currently fit into the arena at the airport of the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, but the average attendance for the current season is only 29,379.
If there were many free games, it could be expected that Fortuna and the city, as the arena operator, would be able to increase their sales through the sale of additional fan articles, food and drinks if more people came and, at best, a new enthusiasm arises from the free entry. With a fundamental growth, the number of free games should gradually increase, Jobst explained.
How is the competition reacting?
Specifically, it is planned that those interested in the tickets can apply for the free games via a digital platform that is yet to be created. Meanwhile, season ticket holders can keep their tickets, but in the coming season at a price three games cheaper, while the box and business seats are marketed as before. However, this astonishing project is also interesting because it represents a counter-model to the usual reflex that usually follows financial bottlenecks in football clubs. Elsewhere, every year it is considered in which ticket segment a little more money could be squeezed out of the audience.
After the signal from Düsseldorf, that will no longer be so easy. Jobst said he received a lot of reactions from the league, but without saying what exactly his colleagues had to tell him. But many a competitor will henceforth ponder whether this might be an innovation for the future in an industry in which complaints are becoming louder and louder that younger fans would rather hang out on social networks or Netflix than in the curves of the stadiums.
