UPDATE: The Bundesliga in crisis – Which clubs are at risk of bankruptcy and how to proceed

If the Bundesliga season were canceled, some clubs would be up to their necks.

The following clubs face an acute risk of bankruptcy:

Mainz 05 – As the only Bundesliga club, Mainz is likely to go bankrupt in May. Without TV money, the Rheinhessen would lack at least 15 million euros. A waiver of the players’ salary could not save anything.

Update: Even until the end of June, the FSV Mainz 05 sees no risk of insolvency due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rouven Schröder, sports director of relegation-threatened table 15th, said this in a Sky interview. “In order to finally depict it, you have to know when to start. We hope that the season can be played to the end, albeit without a spectator, ”said Schröder. “It is basically the case that, thanks to the topic of high solidarity, also within the association, we are positioned in such a way that we will definitely not be at risk of bankruptcy by June 30th.”

Schalke 04 – High debts (Schalke is one of the 20 most indebted football clubs in Europe) and low income (no European Cup in 2019/20) could mean financial ruin for the royal blues. Important transfers already failed last summer because the club was economically too weak. Ghost games until June 30, 2020 are a must, otherwise it will threaten your existence.

Update: Schalke is still not doing well financially! Communications director Alexander Jobst emailed box and season ticket owners to waive refunds in order to relieve the club financially. Loud Sport picture the traditional club is also advancing the outsourcing of the professional department. This measure is intended to attract urgently needed investors, but has always been a taboo among members.

Schalke icon Klaus Fischer sees a possible option in the procedure: “We cannot keep up with the way we are set up. So we should think about outsourcing. ” Nowadays, “tradition is no longer enough,” the 70-year-old said Sport picture.

Financial intervention by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Clemens Tönnies, is also unthinkable. “Clemens Tönnies is Schalke 04. I am convinced that he would not leave the club hanging if they needed his help,” said Fischer.
Ex-trainer Peter Neururer is also convinced of this. Tönnies would not let the club die in life if it were about “survival”. Conclusion: The association is still at risk of bankruptcy.

FC Augsburg – Even if Augsburg’s finance boss Michael Ströll still spoke of “reserves” in March, the association is one of the most threatened. If the season is canceled, the Swabians could face a major financial disaster.

Update: As Augsburg managing director Michael Ströll dem Kicker and the Augsburg General announced that the club would initially face no insolvency in the next few weeks. “If the FCA does not play until the end of June, we are not at risk of bankruptcy, but the situation would also get worse for us,” he said. According to their own statements, there is no acute danger.

Union Berlin – In addition to high debts, the capital of the city also had a negative transfer balance of minus 6.15 million euros. If there is no income from the broadcasts, the air will be very scarce for the newcomer from June. It could be the first and last Bundesliga season for Union.

Update: Union could survive until the end of the season. This can be attributed to positive signals from its main sponsor: “We stand by Union 100 percent and remain unchanged. We are in regular contact with the Presidium, ”said Andrew Wallis, Managing Director of the real estate group Aroundtown, the Daily mirror With. The company had already signaled that it was accommodated by Union board member Oskar Kosche. “Union knows they can count on us,” said Wallis. Since this season Aroundtown can also be seen with the company logo on the shirts of the Union professionals.

Fortuna Dusseldorf – If the season were to end, the fortunes would lack important media funds that would usually ensure the existence of the club. Due to a lack of transfer proceeds, the additional losses would be catastrophic for Düsseldorf.

Update: According to the Image newspaper the Düsseldorf professionals would forego 12.5 percent of their salaries altogether. They would teach the club another 12.5 percent. This proportion should only be paid out as soon as financial resources in the form of viewer and TV revenues would flow again. This provisional 25 percent waiver would correspond to around 300,000 euros a month. Fortuna could survive until summer.

SV Werder Bremen – If there is a termination of the league, Werder will probably have to turn on the insolvency adviser from June. The athletically disastrous and therefore threatened by the descent of the North Germans are facing an uncertain future. Sporty as well as financially.

Update: Sports director Frank Baumann is confident that the club can cope with the problems, the club said on its website. “We are faced with a very challenging situation with many imponderables. It must be our goal to master this situation on our own. It is not yet certain that we will succeed, but I see realistic possibilities, ”said the 44-year-old to the club’s internal side Dike room.

The Bundesliga clubs are all in optimism. But that threatens all clubs: As long as revenues from TV funds and sponsorship deals increase every season (which they have been doing for 70 years now), the Bundesliga clubs could afford a rather carefree “aloha state of mind” in terms of money and debt. If transfer revenues now drop by an average of 30 – 50 percent per player in summer 2020 and sponsorship income and TV money no longer rise, professional football is at risk of what is known from other financial bubbles (real estate, shares). The assets of the clubs (player values) are falling, as are future revenues (sponsorship, TV money). Entrance fees from viewers are also rather questionable. The stadiums are also significantly less valuable. Because if they can generate significantly less income because the audience stays away, their value will decrease. You don’t need an Allianz arena or an Olympic stadium for ghost games, as does the Unerhaching sports park or the post stadium.

The result: bankruptcies en masse. Many professional clubs will not “survive” this multiple hammer in its current structure and form.

Update: Especially if a phase of up to 2 years has to be assumed, in which social distancing is the order of the day and large events cannot or cannot take place as before. 2 meters from fan to fan in the stadium, antibody evidence from every spectator before entering the stadium – this is hardly possible. Continued ghost games and a season 2020/21 without spectators or with as few spectators per game as after the 1971 Bundesliga scandal.

FURTHER UPDATE: A decision about the continuation of the Bundesliga should only be made at the next meeting of the Chancellor with the country heads on April 30. “The Bundesliga was not an issue. It will be the topic in the next step. We will then discuss whether ghost games are possible, ”said Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder on April 15.

Until then, it remains open what the future of football looks like in Germany!
Most recently, there was talk of around 240 people who may be allowed to run a game in private. Pending matches – nine match days in each of the 1st and 2nd leagues – would also require around 20,000 corona tests.

Due to the ban on major events, only ghost games are possible until August 31, 2020 anyway. But numerous Bundesliga fans on withdrawal would certainly be grateful for a little live football on TV – if not in the curve!

Because: The return to the stadium is currently pure utopia! Experts from Harvard University even believe that “social distancing” measures will remain important for years to come. According to a study by the elite university, people around the world would have to maintain a certain degree of social distancing by 2022 to prevent Covid-19 from spreading again.

But how should “social distancing” work in the stadium? Is only every second seat filled? Can you sit one behind the other or will our bodies form a chic diagonal diamond pattern in the fan curve in the future? And how does it go when entering? Queuing at a distance of 1.5 meters would mean a queue of over 20 kilometers for 30,000 spectators (if we assume, for example, a half-occupied Signal Iduna Park) – fans could park directly in Bochum! And anyway: does everyone have to do a Corona quick test before admission?
Questions after questions … We are thinking a few times!

Another update: Managing Director Oliver Mintzlaff, RB Leipzig, warns of dramatic consequences if the current season is canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “That would be an absolute disaster because it could lead many clubs to bankruptcy,” he told the “Bonn General-Anzeiger”: “We love the diversity of the Bundesliga, and every fan wants it to continue.” Therefore, they want to do everything possible to “prevent this disaster,” said Mintzlaff. He sees the current measures of the federal government as completely correct. “The topic of football was certainly not the most important on Wednesday,” said the Leipzig bull, who is optimistic, “that games without a spectator can be implemented relatively promptly.”

And he already knows how. To do this, one has to make sure that “200 to 300 people can go to the stadiums to ensure a smooth match day,” clarifies Mintzlaff, who hopes that “the topic will be decided at the next Prime Ministerial conference with the Chancellor on April 30th.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the prime ministers of the federal states announced on April 15 that the first steps towards a cautious opening of schools and shops – the strict restrictions on contacts should remain in effect at least until May 3, said Merkel. Large events are prohibited until August 31.

–