What the withdrawal from the billion-dollar plans means will be decided in the venerable Holstein Stadium. There, Kiel will face FC St. Pauli in the top game of the second division on Friday evening (6.30 p.m., Sky). And then it will become clear how lasting the German Football League (DFL)’s cavening to the weeks of fan protests in the arenas here really is. The duel between second and first is the first professional game since it became known that plans for an investor to join the team failed.
Tennis balls thrown with incredible persistence, club bosses in the crosshairs on banners in the fan curves or even a penetration into the interior of the stadium – the ultras of the 36 professional clubs had done a lot to finally have their concerns heard. They feared that the planned entry of an investor would lead to a further fragmentation of kick-off times on match days or even duels abroad far from home. In their eyes, what some European leagues have been doing for years should definitely be prevented in Germany.
“No central orchestration”
After one of two interested parties willing to pay in Blackstone last week rejected further negotiations with the DFL due to the protests in the stadiums, leaving only one candidate, CVC, the top of the German Football League has now pulled the ripcord on its own initiative. Early on Wednesday evening she announced the end of the project. “A successful continuation of the process no longer seems possible given current developments. Even if there is a large majority in favor of the entrepreneurial necessity of the strategic partnership,” explained DFL supervisory board chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke, who is also managing director of Borussia Dortmund.
Quite meekly: Hans-Joachim Watzke
Source: dpa
However, it is uncertain whether there will be peace and the professionals on the field can go about their jobs again without interruptions that are quite annoying for them. Even Thomas Kessen didn’t want to give any guarantees: You’ll definitely see “one or two funny posters” at the weekend, the spokesman for the fan umbrella organization “Our Curve” told the German Press Agency.
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However, Kessen does not expect any further provoked interruptions, sometimes lasting over 30 minutes: “I would at least be very surprised if someone else did that now,” he explained. “This protest was designed very individually locally, was driven forward, and there was no central orchestration – accordingly there is no central orchestration as is being celebrated now.”
At least it can be seen from Kessen’s statement that the fan scene certainly has reason to celebrate. Just over a year ago, the DFL announced its plans to sell 12.5 percent of the shares in a newly founded subsidiary for 20 years. Media rights should be outsourced there; an investor should pay two billion euros to get involved. The sovereignty of the 36 professional clubs should remain untouched, according to the highest German representation of the 18 first and second division clubs at the time.
Thomas Kessen (r.) on Monday evening during the ARD program “Hard, but fair”
Source: © WDR/Oliver Ziebe
After the plans became known, there were already protests from fans; at the general meeting on May 24th, the plans failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority among the clubs. The project seemed to be over.
But a new edition followed in September: in a slimmed-down form, a potential investor was supposed to pay “only” one billion euros for a smaller stake in the rights. In a secret election on December 11th, 24 of the 36 clubs – exactly the required two-thirds majority – voted to implement the plans. What remains unclear to this day is whether Hanover’s managing director Martin Kind voted yes, contrary to the parent club’s instructions.
The fans then went on the barricades because of his questionable approach. In some cases, games were even about to be canceled due to interruptions lasting more than half an hour, such as in the Berlin Olympic Stadium in the game between Hertha and HSV. Now the ultra scene is at least the provisional winner. Because it is by no means certain whether the DFL will actually make attempt number three in the next few years.
“Urgently necessary”
In initial statements, some club representatives also welcomed the stop in negotiations with CVC. The managing director of 1. FC Union, Oliver Runert, said on Thursday on rbb24 Inforadio that the decision was “urgently necessary”. “Marketing the product of football, also abroad, and also making this economic product of football, where a lot depends on it, attractive for the clubs in the end, is something that I believe is not even the most important thing that is being criticized here,” he said Runert. “I think this is really about the fact that you acted in a non-transparent way, this is about people having the impression that you didn’t take them along and that you brought about a vote that in the end was not democratic .”
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There was also approval for the DFL’s decision elsewhere. “In the current situation, this is the right decision for me. The entire system was at risk due to the game interruptions in the last few weeks,” explained Werder Bremen managing director Klaus Filbry. Augsburg’s managing director Michael Ströll said: “The decision was certainly not made lightly, but we are convinced that, taking into account all the circumstances, it is the right and expedient in the current situation.”
And Oke Göttlich, member of the DFL executive committee and president of second division league leaders St. Pauli, called for the skepticism of many fans about investor models to be taken seriously. Protests were also part of democratic decisions. Göttlich also praised the protests of his own supporters: “We experienced peaceful and creative expressions of opinion at the Millerntor. This helped a lot to promote the credibility of the popular sport of football, including within the DFL.”