Threatened

The lights have not gone out on the playing fields and in the gyms during the energy crisis, but the prospects for German sport remain bleak. In the short term, price controls, hardship funds, a mild winter and austerity measures have reduced feared insolvencies of sports clubs to isolated cases.

“But it’s too early to give the all-clear,” said Michaela Rhrbein, head of sports development at the German Olympic Sports Confederation. “The cost of gas has fallen sharply, but is still significantly higher than before the Russia-Ukraine war.” In view of the current conditions, the clubs would not be relieved by the gas price brake and would have to assume “a doubling of the advance payment” if consumption remained the same. In the case of electricity, the costs would be 70 percent higher.

The DOSB is therefore concerned about the majority of clubs that can avoid insolvency, but have to increase membership fees or reduce their offers due to increased costs. “Then these increased costs for exercise, health and sport will compete with inflation at the gas station or in the supermarket,” says Rhrbein.

The State Sports Association of Hesse fears that this will remain a permanent problem: “In our view, the energy crisis can be more threatening for organized sport than the corona pandemic.”

This applies primarily to clubs with their own sports facilities. However, clubs that use municipal facilities will also have to reckon with the increase in fees. In addition, there are high costs at filling stations, which come into play when driving to competitions, or the galloping prices due to inflation.

Sport is not left alone by the state with the existential problems. However, the support is not all of a piece and rather confusingly diverse. Since sport was not included in the economic stabilization fund’s hardship rules, the federal states help in times of need – with aid programs, application forms and financial resources. Irrespective of this patchwork quilt, the fear that thousands of the 87,000 sports clubs in Germany could go bankrupt due to the exploding energy costs has not become a bitter reality.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, sports operations could take place “in a regulated manner” in winter, according to the state sports association. No other federal state provided so much energy cost aid: the special subsidy is endowed with 55.2 million euros.

So far, around 550 clubs in North Rhine-Westphalia have applied for help; well over 600 more are currently being processed.

In the south of the republic, the Bavarian sports clubs were able to “reasonably well” over the winter, as a spokeswoman for the Bavarian State Sports Association (BLSV) said. The state’s contribution: 20 million euros to double the club fee for 2023 and 30 million euros to cushion the energy crisis. There is no club aid program in Baden-Wrttemberg – and it is said not to be necessary. There are “no complaints to be heard about the high energy prices,” reported LSVBW President Jürgen Scholz. The sports clubs in the country are “structurally well positioned”. Since energy costs are unlikely to drop to pre-war levels, German sport has to deal more intensively with sustainability, the environment and the move away from fossil fuels. “The topic is a long-running issue for sport, which has accelerated due to climate change and was exacerbated by the energy crisis,” said DOSB expert Rhrbein.

The DOSB represents 87,000 sports clubs with 27 million memberships. In order to strengthen club sport even after the restrictions imposed during the corona pandemic, the association launched the “Your club: Sport, only better” initiative together with the Federal Ministry of the Interior at the beginning of the year. The aim is to encourage people in Germany to do more sport and exercise and at the same time to strengthen the clubs. In January, 150,000 sports club checks were made available for download. If you are not yet a member of a club, you can use these checks to save 40 euros when you become a member.