Turned Down Investor Deal Could Lead To Fragmentation

There will be no investor deal for the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), which governs the top two divisions of German football, the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. On Wednesday, the DFL failed to get a two-thirds majority to pass a deal that would have opened the door for 12.5% of the Bundesliga’s international media rights to be sold to an external investor.

The DFL had planned to create a new company, DFL MediaCo GmbH & Co. KGaA, which would have housed the international media rights of the two top divisions in German football, and then sell a minority stake to an investor for a 20-year period. The Bundesliga hoped to generate in the region of €2 billion ($2.2 billion) through the deal.

Much-needed money for a league that is falling behind the international competition. Already significantly behind the Premier League, the Bundesliga also is threatening to fall behind LaLiga and Serie A, which has teams in all three European finals this season.

The league hoped to use 40% of the generated revenue for digitalization and 45% to improve the infrastructure of the 36 teams that play in the top two divisions. The remaining 15% would have been free to use by the individual clubs.

Since the possibility of the deal was announced, there has been significant opposition among fan associations in Germany. German fans, which, thanks to the 50+1 rule, have considerable influence over the decision-making of individual clubs, have protested for weeks against a potential deal.

Then there was open opposition by certain clubs. Representatives of Bundesliga sides 1. FC Köln and 2. Bundesliga side FC St. Pauli, in particular, were considered opposed to the deal.

Nonetheless, the vote was close and fell just short of the 24 yes votes needed. Twenty clubs voted yes, 11 clubs voted no, and five clubs withheld their vote. According to the German magazine kicker, the vote was kept secret thanks to a motion put forward by VfL Bochum’s club representatives.

Not surprisingly, the fans celebrated the decision by the DFL not to go forward with the investor plan. “Fans together with the clubs have shown resistance, and we are happy about our mutual success,” the fan organization Unsere Kurve said in a statement issued to the German magazine kicker. “The results show: transparency is essential in this process. Closed-door politics turn into a boomerang, and questions have to be answered. Obviously, there has been a rethinking process: More money doesn’t fix problems in football.”

Whether that is true, however, remains to be seen. After all, there was some discontent about the decision among the big clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund once the decision was made public.

German newspaper Bild speculated on Wednesday whether the decision could now lead to a fragmentation between the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. According to Bild, the two German top clubs have been following a plan to see the Bundesliga become its own entity, similar to the Premier League in England. That would allow the league to negotiate its own television deals and also would end the subsidization of the 2. Bundesliga by German top teams.

“Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have moved many of their own media rights to the DFL to strengthen the solidarity,” acting DFL CEO and Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said to Bild. “We have stretched out our hand to the league, and we would have to make the biggest contribution and were happy to do so. Now the big clubs will have to consider what will come next. Nobody should come to us in the next little while and ask about solidarity.”

Other mechanisms are now considered, from finding a name sponsor for the league all the way to restructuring the two top divisions, which could lead to a separation of the two top flights and end the subsidization of the second division, which—when one reads between the lines—seem to have predominantly voted against the deal.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcastand the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth