Borussia Dortmund has a problem, of all things because of the Westfalenstadion pilgrimage site. BVB only takes in comparatively little money from fans per game. Others receive far more, including FC Bayern. There is a plan to remedy the situation.
It stands there proudly. And the people of Dortmund are proud of their home. Not only because there have only been 24 defeats in the Bundesliga since 2016, but there have been 110 wins. Rather, the stadium carries the BVB feeling, it symbolizes the emotions of an entire club and was the site of great moments. If the walls could talk, you would listen to them for days.
One thing is the Westfalenstadion, built in 1974 and expanded in several stages to 81,365 seats, but not: a cash cow. Official evaluations from UEFA show: Borussia takes in 2.2 million euros per home game – 3.5 million less than FC Bayern. Extrapolated to an entire season – including the Champions League only up to the round of 16 – this results in a difference of 77 million euros. The annual squad costs of an ambitious Bundesliga club.
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Not to mention the top European clubs: stadium leader Real Madrid earns 7.4 million euros per game – 5.2 million euros more than BVB. Extrapolated to the year: 114.4 million euros. The average fan pays 102 euros for a Real home game, almost four times as much as a Dortmund supporter (27 euros). These are worlds. The comparison with Paris St. Germain is even more dramatic. A PSG fan spends an average of 137 euros per home game. The most expensive regular seat ticket at Borussia costs 77 euros.
BVB has 18 boxes – even arch-rivals Schalke 04 have 81
BVB’s problematic number in this regard is: 18. Today’s “Signal Iduna Park” has this number of boxes. This is mainly due to the fact that the Revier club did not build a new, ultra-modern arena for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. FC Bayern has 106 individual boxes in the Allianz Arena, even arch-rival Schalke has 81 boxes. Eintracht Frankfurt, which has now matured into a competitor for the Champions League places, offers its fans 76 VIP rooms. The most expensive season ticket in a box there costs 15,000 euros, BVB charges 10,000 euros for the most expensive ticket – but there aren’t many of them.
Instead, the Revier club has to look after its aging treasure. Fill cracks in the concrete, repair paths, replace steel beams. The stadium costs up to five million euros in renovation costs every year. And if the trade inspectorate also complains that the kitchen system is no longer up to date and that cold chains cannot be maintained, a new “kitchen tower” must also be purchased for around eleven million euros. This will happen in 2024. The next upcoming costs: the modernization of the sanitary facilities. The rooms have become far too small, especially for women.
So what to do? One thing is clear to the bosses: the club won’t change much in terms of admission prices. “Our pricing policy is set. BVB must be and remain affordable. Anything else does not suit this region or our club,” says Carsten Cramer, spokesman for the management. The location is actually a factor: While in Frankfurt there are 8.2 income millionaires for every 10,000 inhabitants, in the city of Dortmund there are 2.3 people.
What remains is a stadium expansion. In recent years there have been dreams among the board of directors about increasing the capacity to 90,000 fans by expanding the club’s west stand.
- Problem one: The escape areas around the stadium are not designed for such a number of people.
- Problem two: An increase would also mean that the stands would also have to grow backwards and be anchored deeper in the ground. However, due to mining in the Ruhr area, cities like Dortmund are full of cavities in the ground – which would make conversion measures extremely difficult.
- Problem three: the costs. An expansion would cost – according to rough estimates from those responsible – around 300 million euros. The plans were therefore relegated to the realm of fantasy.
However, three measures are much easier to implement – and have already been initiated at least slightly. There are considerations about providing more standing room in the stadium. With 24,457 seats, the south stand (“Yellow Wall”) is already the largest standing-room stand in Europe. There is also a small block on the opposite side of the stadium, in the northwest block, where the fans stand.
For both areas, the club is considering converting adjacent seating into standing room. On the one hand, to create an even more impressive atmosphere, and on the other hand, to give even more fans the opportunity to receive a ticket. For the last home game of this year, on Friday evening against Gladbach (December 19th, 8:30 p.m., in the WELT sports ticker), BVB could have sold around 100,000 tickets. Second division club Schalke is also considering similar renovation work, as “Sport Bild” reported. But one thing is clear: this step will not generate (much) more income.
This should happen on days when no football is played in Dortmund. “We want and need to make the stadium even more attractive for our fans so that they come to us outside of match days. Our stadium still has an incredible amount of potential,” says Cramer. One concern is to get more people interested in stadium tours. At the Rheinlanddamm it is known what Real Madrid, for example, earns annually from “sightseeing”: around 45 million euros. At BVB it is around 1.5 million euros.
The latest innovation at the Dortmund stadium
A measure that the team will also be pleased to note: the cabin should be modernized and become an eye-catcher. On the other hand, those responsible are thinking about a kind of meeting place around the stadium in order to attract more people.
And: Borussia wants to make the stadium available more frequently for events in other sports. BVB’s partnership with the NFL club Pittsburgh Steelers suggests that football games could also be played in “Signal Iduna Park” in the future. The focus is on major sporting events. Just opening the stadium costs around 250,000 euros: ticket sales, security staff, energy costs, cleaning. However, an amount of around one million per major event would remain in the club coffers. However, it is out of the question that the stadium will also be a venue for concerts in the future. The “Signal Iduna Park” is intended to be a sports facility.
The latest innovation cannot be seen by stadium visitors unless they arrive by helicopter. Almost the entire roof was equipped with a PV system. Costs including energy storage: around eight million euros. The partners “RWE” and “Ja Solar” took over a large part of it. Thanks to the system, BVB now saves around 500,000 euros in energy costs every year.
It’s a small step towards the unattainable goal of catching up with Bayern, Real and Co. And yet the people of Dortmund love their home.
The text was written for the Sports Competence Center (WELT, „Bild“, “Sport Image”) created and first published in “Sport Bild”.
