Watzke promotes trust: “No Trojan horse through the back door”

Promoted the entry of a league investor: Axel Hellmann (left) and Hans-Joachim Watzke.

picture alliance/dpa

Normally there are home games for BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke in the Dortmund stadium. On Monday evening, however, in his role as DFL supervisory board chairman, he went away to a certain extent.

Together with the interim DFL managing director Axel Hellmann, spokesman for the board of Eintracht Frankfurt, he defended the plans for an investor to join the DFL in a panel discussion with fan representatives and tried to allay the fears of a further splitting of the kick-off times to the 300 mostly skeptical spectators in the audience or a curtailment of fan culture. Neither will happen, Watzke and Hellmann promised in unison. However, according to the two officials, the entry is necessary in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the Bundesliga. Otherwise there is a risk of a loss of importance, which will go hand in hand with a reduction in sporting quality.

The DFL plans for an investor to share 12.5 percent of the media revenues for a sum of two billion euros over the next 20 years. The income should be divided into three pillars: 40 percent of the money should go into the digitization and foreign marketing of the Bundesliga, for example to set up its own streaming platform. 45 percent are intended for investment projects in the infrastructure of the 36 clubs, 15 percent should be freely available to the clubs. On May 24, the cornerstones of the cooperation with a strategic partner are to be presented to the 36 clubs for decision at an extraordinary DFL general meeting.

We could do that now, but we’re not doing it.

Axel Hellmann on splitting the kick-off time

“It’s not about overtaking the Premier League. We’ve been very sensible and deliberate about what we can imagine,” said Hellmann. The Bundesliga is the most exciting league in Europe below the championship decision. In order to be able to market itself better, however, the DFL needs “partners who bring networks with them”. The concern that the game day would be fanned out as a result is “purely theoretical” because: “We could do that now, but we won’t do it.” Also, there will definitely be no Supercup in Saudi Arabia. “We can regulate that such issues will never come within an investor’s sphere of influence. It’s about a stake of 12.5 percent, spread over 20 years, with very limited minority rights,” said Hellmann, who received a few applause for his argument.

Watzke: “We know what we owe the base”

Watzke, who is a clear proponent of investing, admitted he “may have missed the right moment” to approach the fan scene. At the same time, he campaigned for trust in himself: “I haven’t been fighting for 20 years to get 50+1 and then let a Trojan horse into the Bundesliga through the back door, which thwarts my entire commitment. We know what we’re doing basis are guilty.”

Then he made the connection to the BVB rescue in 2005: Without private equity companies, which many fans view particularly critically, the club could not be saved at the time, despite the sponsors Signal Iduna and Evonik: “Everything that the BVB achieved from 2005 would not have been possible without Morgan Stanley. It was the only way we could get Borussia Dortmund back on track.” On the other hand, he immediately rejected entry into the Super League when the offer was made to BVB. “Without asking anyone beforehand, because our position was clear.”

Panel discussion in Dortmund with Axel Hellmann (left) and Hans-Joachim Watzke as well as various fan representatives.
picture alliance/dpa

However, trust in the clubs and their representatives has recently suffered, said Nicolai Mäurer, author at the BVB fanzine Schwatzgelb, and named the fears of the organized fans, who had recently repeatedly protested against the entry of an investor in Bundesliga stadiums: “We talking about a construct that will keep us busy for 20 years and that will impact multiple generations of fans.”

“A caesura or a little less than that”

In the corona pandemic, you saw how little sustainable management was done in the clubs. “Why should things be different with the new money?” Claas Schneider from the Dortmund ultra group “The Unity”, who took part in the discussion as spokesman for the “Südtribüne Dortmund” alliance, made a similar statement: “The clubs have screwed it up in recent years. Now it needs liquid funds. But how sustainable is that? Where are the problems coming from? They won’t be solved by an investor getting involved. We’re just bringing in new problems.” Jakob Scholz from the BVB fan department added that the emotional component of the debate should not be ignored. The DFL is therefore obliged to explain “whether we are talking about a turning point or something less than that”.

Hellmann and Watzke spent more than two hours trying to allay the fears of the fans, who also had their say during a question and answer session, by giving insights into the DFL’s plans for how the hoped-for income should be used and how its use should be controlled and what role the strategic partner should play in improving Bundesliga marketing. “Every reasonable observer knows that there is a need for action,” said Hellmann, who countered the impression that things were being decided past the fans: “We are now entering the public phase. In the coming weeks, there will be an intensive formation of opinion in the 36 clubs that will express themselves in the vote on May 24.” And what happens if the required two-thirds majority is not reached? “Then life goes on. That’s democracy,” said Watzke, who, according to his own statement, wanted to take away the feeling from the fans “that we don’t take them seriously – because that’s what we do”.

The fan representatives on the podium, however, stuck to their basic skepticism. “The system question is not asked. Bad money is thrown at bad money. And one hopes that things will go well,” said Mäurer in his closing statement. The applause in the hall signaled that he was not the only one with this opinion, even after the intensive question-and-answer session on Monday evening.