The smoke from the spring battles, at the peak of which a vote by the 36 first and second division clubs ended the so-called investor project of the German Football League (DFL), has cleared, but the problems have remained. However, they are now to be solved by two new men. Marc Lenz and Steffen Merkel, both 37 years old, presented themselves for the first time in their new role as DFL managing directors in Frankfurt on Thursday.
After the end of the contract of the interim managing directors Axel Hellmann and Oliver Leki, both rose from positions below the management to the top of the league association, and they are facing a mountain of “difficulties and challenges,” said Lenz. Because German football urgently needs a more modern business model. In connection with the failed attempt to generate two billion euros from a private equity investor for the league, Hellmann even articulated the fear that the federal leagues were in danger of falling to a level “like Bulgaria”.
Lenz and Merkel now resolutely opposed such forecasts. The Bundesliga continues to be the “sixth largest sports league in the world”, behind the English Premier League and the major US sports competitions. However, this finding does not change the fact that the league association is currently a huge construction site. A central topic is the sale of media rights for the years between 2025 and 2029. This is where the genuine task of the league association lies, because all clubs depend on the money from this source.
However, the market environment has become more difficult, the most important partners Sky and DAZN are struggling to refinance their expenses. However, it will be even more difficult to reunite the league, which has been deeply divided after the investor process, and it will be interesting to see whether the two young men, who were previously required to be experts and not diplomats, can do it. “There is a consensus that further development is necessary. However, this further development must fit in with the basic values and the basic structure of the league,” said Lenz.
Marc Lenz (left) and Steffen Merkel: DFL managing directors as new dual leadership: Image: dpa
The vast majority of clubs are convinced that a digital playback platform for Bundesliga content should be created, for which costs of around 800 million euros were estimated as part of the investor project. A slimmed-down version is now being considered. The new DFL management ruled out financing through loans, but cooperation with an investor or strategic partner is still possible.
Lenz and Merkel did not hide the fact that they were actually friends of the failed attempt, and possibly in a more transparent process and with a smaller sum without the controversial direct payments to the clubs, the desired majority for a cooperation with a private equity Company. However, the path to optimizing the business model should no longer be paved in a small special committee shielded from many clubs, but jointly by Lenz, Merkel, the DFL Supervisory Board and the Executive Committee. At this point, a paradigm shift in the management style of the association’s leadership becomes visible.
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The long-standing managing director Christian Seifert and the interim bosses Hellmann and Leki, who were appointed after a difficult year with successor Donata Hopfen, made a very strong impression as drivers who want to implement certain ideas. Lenz and Merkel are now acting rather cautiously. They want to listen, reconcile and turn the DFL back into an organization in which controversial discussions are held, but in the end there is more constructive cooperation again.
