Hans-Joachim Watzke did not put himself in a good light in the ARD sports show. picture: screenshot ard
–
BVB boss Watzke shakes his head with statements about the coronavirus crisis
What to do with sports in the age of the corona virus? As in Switzerland with the “Sportpanorama plus” of the SRF, there were numerous special programs in Germany on the subject. The ARD discussed in the special edition “Corona crisis: A summer without EURO and Olympia?” also Dortmund managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke and caused many people to shake their heads with his statements. His words triggered such a big shitstorm in Germany that the hashtag #Watzke took first place in the Twitter Trends on Sunday evening – even before the corona virus and the regional election in Bavaria.
Early in the conversation, moderator Jessy Wellmer asks Watzke if he thinks it makes sense for many football clubs to drop out of training. “No. That can’t make sense, ”replied the 60-year-old BVB boss and immediately added:“ We have to go back to normal at some point. We have to pay the players and the players have to get into reasonable shape. Honestly, we shouldn’t overdo it. Because the current health risk for a team consisting of complete athletes, I would now classify as not so serious even without being a virologist. »
The ARD Sporschau special broadcast with BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke. Video: YouTube / sports show
–
Watzke’s intentions may have been good. Maybe the BVB managing director wanted to dampen the panic about the corona virus a little. In view of the Federal Government’s strict measures, however, his statements were far from well received by viewers. Watzke received a lot of criticism, especially for the statement on health risks. His statements were “embarrassing” and “ridiculous,” it said on Twitter. He was “only interested in the money,” commented a user. But there are also positive reactions. Watzke is only honest, because the financial aspect has a big impact.
The short-term cancellation of the 26th Bundesliga match day, which the DFL initially wanted to have carried out as a ghost match day, was also an issue and Watzke indicated that he would have welcomed if his team had been allowed to play against Schalke on Saturday. “Football has done everything possible to minimize risk, even if ghost games are at the heart of football. If we had played the derby, there would have been 80 people in the stadium. That would have been an acceptable situation and would have relieved the league by 75 million euros, »said Watzke.
And how does it continue? The 36 clubs from the Bundesliga and 2nd division will discuss together at 11.30 a.m. how to deal with the precarious situation. Watzke said what should have been clear to everyone anyway. «Nobody in the Bundesliga assumes that we will end the season with spectators. We won’t be seeing a normal football game for a long time. »
A termination of the season could have fatal financial consequences according to Watzke: “If it happens that we have to cancel the Bundesliga, it will be very, very difficult for some clubs.” He anticipates that this would be particularly threatening if the Bundesliga could only resume play in the fall. In the event of a complete cancellation of the current season, the Bundesliga clubs would have to expect economic damage of around 750 million euros.
When it came to the extent to which the larger clubs could help the smaller ones in such an emergency situation, Watzke only said: «We are competitors and a commercial enterprise. At the end of the day, clubs that have worked well in recent years cannot reward those that have not. ”
A BVB supporter on Twitter said about this statement: «Watzke actually managed to make Uli Hoenes suddenly likeable to me.» The former Bayern president on Sunday morning in the “Sport1 double pass” called for significantly more solidarity: “The big ones have to help the little ones,” said the 68-year-old. «It is a unique opportunity to show solidarity. This is a great opportunity for the Bundesliga and all of Europe. » (pre)
