Bundesliga – DFL New Year’s reception: Football practices Sunday speeches

As the illustrious group of guests made their way home from the Gesellschaftshaus in Frankfurt’s Palmengarten on Thursday evening, some people wondered what would remain of this New Year’s reception of the German Football League (DFL). Regular visitors to this meeting agreed that Hans-Joachim Watzke in particular, as chairman of the supervisory board, had missed an opportunity at the 16th edition.

In his superficial speech to 400 listeners from sports, politics, society and the media, no plans or visions for the future were mentioned. The CEO of Borussia Dortmund cited the successful home European Championship and international successes, in particular the entry of his struggling BVB into the Champions League final, to praise 2024 as a “good year for German football”. Anyone could have done that without a speech template. But why not address the many challenges? There are plenty of social and sporting opportunities.

A vacuum that DFL managing directors Marc Lenz and Steffen Merkel were unable to fill. Okay, Merkel emphasized that in terms of international media revenue, the Bundesliga is currently the fastest-growing European top league after the Premier League. Lenz points out the importance of good cooperation between the 36 licensed associations. But a programmatic focus was missing.

The long-time DFL boss Christian Seifert had just used this event to strategically position the league association – he had read the DFB, Uefa or FIFA or even the league itself when the international performance wasn’t right. The sometimes really poor youth work in Germany was also clearly discussed here in the past. Often enough, politics also got their fat from the sharp-tongued Seifert, who now works for the streaming platform Dyn.

At least Watzke attempted a political detour when the 65-year-old recommended in his capacity as a citizen before the federal election that he should respond more to voters. You shouldn’t use the “moral index finger all the time” and you shouldn’t always use “the instrument of instruction and paternalism,” then those people you’ve lost will return to the center of society.

Doesn’t sound wrong, but it would be better if his own institution were a good role model. But the DFL isn’t right now. This is exemplified by the dispute over a different distribution of television money in order to perhaps offset the major imbalance in the league a little. Smaller clubs in particular have put forward a proposal to distribute international revenues of around 200 to 300 million euros in the future according to the same key as the national revenues of 1.121 billion euros.

Most of the money from foreign marketing is currently going to the international starters, although the European Cup participants are pocketing large sums of money from UEFA – and a big chunk will soon be added to the mix for Bayern and BVB through the Club World Cup. Although Watzke praised the “very constructive discussion” at the extraordinary general meeting, meeting participants reported a controversy in which no agreement was possible. It was said that the debate was basically in favor of the barrel.

The league association resembles a two-tier society in which the powerful clubs promote their interests. In the nine-member executive committee, spokesman Watzke and financial expert Michael Diederich (FC Bayern) set the tone, together with Axel Hellmann (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Oliver Leki (SC Freiburg), both temporarily at the top on an interim basis during the failed investor process. Ilja Kaenzig (VfL Bochum) made this very clear: “I would be on board with a redistribution straight away, but that cannot be compromised. The discussion was outstanding, but the film repeats itself.«

A league manager has no illusions that the big players are prepared to compromise in the face of stagnating revenue when it is decided at the end of January how media revenue will be distributed over the next four years. According to reports, the “interest” distribution pillar, which currently only receives three percent of TV money, will soon be increased slightly.

But fundamental differences – and thus the status quo – are not being shaken: Bayern Munich currently receives around 97.5 million euros from national and international marketing, while Werder Bremen only receives just under 47 million euros and Holstein Kiel only receives 32.7 million euros. The second league receives 20 percent of the revenue – a higher share is reportedly not on the agenda.

It also fits that there is no solidarity when it comes to police costs after the Federal Constitutional Court declared the levy on the DFL or the clubs for risky games to be legal. Watzke’s succinct comment on the sidelines of the event: “We can’t always do everything the same.” A solidarity fund could relieve the burden on affected clubs like Werder Bremen. Debates are ongoing in other federal states as to whether the practice from Bremen should be adopted. The picture so far is inconsistent.

As CEO of FC Bayern, Jan-Christian Dreesen is determined that the state of Bavaria does not follow Bremen’s example – and added a tip to Bremen’s Interior Senator Ulrich Mäurer (SPD), who won the legal dispute last Tuesday: “Basically It would be nice if the city-state of Bremen hadn’t spent ten years working on police costs, but had also advanced other issues.”

At least Dreesen has nothing to complain about that Bayer Leverkusen once stole the trophy from the record champions and is currently close again: “It’s fantastic for the fans that there are several candidates for the championship. FC Bayern also has to try harder.”