Football Bundesliga rights: Investors offer 1.8 billion euros for a share

As of 3:24 p.m | Reading time: 4 minutes

FAccording to informed circles, financial investors are offering around 1.8 billion euros for a stake in the media rights business of the Bundesliga.

The plan provides for an investor to acquire 12.5 percent of the media marketing division of the Bundesliga for a period of 20 years. This should bring fresh capital of around two billion euros to the league, 85 percent of which should flow into earmarked investments in future fields and to strengthen the stability of the DFL.

The DFL reportedly informed the 36 clubs from the first and second divisions in the past few days that they had received four offers ranging between around 1.75 billion and 1.85 billion euros. According to Bloomberg News, the bidders are Advent International, Blackstone, CVC Capital Partners and EQT. The DFL is also said to have received an offer from KKR & Co., which was considered too low.

Term unclear

The league wants to negotiate the price up to around two billion euros, it said. However, this number may only be reached if the contract will run for 25 years.

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Deliberations are ongoing and it is unclear if the clubs will ultimately agree to a sale. The decision is near, the clubs are to vote at an extraordinary general meeting on May 24th. A two-thirds majority is needed to give the green light for final negotiations. But they are also met with rejection.

A survey conducted by the “Kicker” among the supporters of the 36 clubs in the first and second divisions, in which tens of thousands of participants voted, revealed that only RB Leipzig fans were in favor of investing. At 35 clubs, there is mostly clear rejection. Can football afford to decide against its own customers?

The deal is highly controversial, especially among fans, and there have been demonstrations against the clubs’ plans in a number of stadiums for weeks. As can be heard, there are two deviants in the Bundesliga, allegedly Cologne and Augsburg. If eight more no votes came from the 2nd league, the project would have failed. In this case, a break between the two leagues can no longer be ruled out.

FC St. Pauli will not take part

In any case, FC St. Pauli will not agree to the planned investor entry and will submit an application to postpone the process. “Zeit Online” said Oke Göttlich, the president of the second division club: “I will not agree under the current conditions.” Göttlich also sits on the DFL presidium and is a member of the DFB board.

The 47-year-old said he could not finally evaluate the offers. “I’m missing information, my questions have not yet been fully answered.” The search for investors is being managed by Axel Hellmann and Oliver Leki, who will temporarily manage the DFL, and will be accompanied by DFL Supervisory Board Chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke.

FC St. Pauli is not the only club that is critical of the investor model. Others also complain about a lack of transparency from the DFL leadership. Everyone involved should be given the opportunity to get better information, said Göttlich, and discuss “alternative models, the necessary investment amount, the plausibility of the business plan”: “We mustn’t break anything over our knees.”

The DFL wants to use the income to advance digitization and internationalization and make the Bundesliga more competitive worldwide. Without investments, they will lose touch, say the supporters of the investor deal. Divine describes some arguments as “fear mongering”. He reiterated: “I am personally liable, not only as part of the DFL Executive Committee, but also towards my members in the club. Everyone should be aware of their responsibility for their clubs and associations, whose rights they hand over to the DFL, their fans and, above all, towards football.”

As for the distribution key for the money, acting DFL managing director Leki Sunday explained to BILD on TV that this should be close to the existing key. So most of the money stays for Bayern, which has been criticized within the league for years.

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