OK, calm down, obviously not the way they are dominating things right now, although even the current situation does have some silver linings.
Recently the DFL announced record turnover for the Bundesliga clubs, I think it was something like 2 billion euros. Virtually all the clubs were in good shape, making profits. The stadiums in Germany have the highest average attendance in the world. Even the weaker clubs in the Bundesliga play close to capacity. So far, so good.
However in terms of growing as a financial power, the Bundesliga still has a way to go. They’re probably about 3 billion euros behind the English Premier League, and well behind Spain and even Italy as well.
The *international* market is where the future massive growth will come, and it is here that Germany has work to do. If you just look at international TV contracts, the Bundesliga is dwarfed not only by the EPL, but also the Serie A and Spanish La Liga. They might even be behind the French Ligue Un. Take the USA for example, the Bundesliga rights are held by GolTV, which was dropped by DirectTV, one of the major satellite providers. It’s also often not available on many cable carriers. Any of the other leagues are readily available just about everywhere. Hell, even MLS is more readily available. Hopefully, when the current contract is up, the rights will be sold to someone who broadcasts everywhere. Of course it’s not just the USA, it’s other countries as well. The EPL contracts in small places like Singapore are perhaps larger than he total value of the Bundesliga international contract.
Aside from accessibility (i.e. English language), the superior production values of the EPL matches is an advantage. But these are areas that can perhaps be overcome, since Spain and Italy are in a similar situation.
One of the key areas to understand in international marketing however is that it is all about star-power. It’s the big massive clubs that attract the international fan. Whereas for locals, it’s about where you live, were born, family tradition etc., in the international market nobody really cares. Fans are picking the clubs for the most part on success and stars. So in the EPL, outside of England, it’s all about Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool. The latter hasn’t won much recently, but they have a long tradition of star players and success at a time when football was becoming more internationalized. Nobody cares about Stoke or Sunderland, and nobody cared about Man City either until they started spending billions. (OK, some Americans “support” worthless teams like Fulham because they happen to have had some lousy American player, but what happens after he gets dumped? Goodbye.) In Spain, it’s Real Madrid or Barcelona. Italy, Juventus, the two Milans. So unless you were born or live there, it’s all about winners. (I used to like Spurs in the Klinsmann/Ginola era when they played all out attack and didn’t know how to play defense because I liked their players and style. But largely they sucked, and I would say most folks would have passed on them…)
In Germany, it’s all about Bayern München. Bayern is what will draw the international fan. With Bayern dominating the world right now, there are legions of new fans getting interested in attaching to the winner. The more Bayern wins and crushes the opposition, the more their stock rises. Of course, these are the type of fans that “real” fans like to denigrate, but their dollar/euro is every bit as valuable. And besides, interest in Bayern also can mean greater familiarization with the rest of German football, which is a good thing.
When I was young, I hated Bayern. That’s because it was what we did in our region. My loyalty was to home town Wuppertal, which actually got promoted to the Bundesliga. (And as some of you know, I still stick with them, although 5th division football is a bit tough to swallow…) Some of the more established regional clubs, like Schalke, were my second choice, except when they played WSV of course. Grudgingly we would OK Gladbach, since having them win would be preferably to the Bavarians, but that was about it. However now I have respect for Bayern, since they’re the ones really putting the Bundesliga back on the map.
Now in the future, there is some hope for some competition. Borussia Dortmund is the most logical. Their campaign fell apart this season as Bayern bought their best player(s), but mostly because of injury. If BVB can continue to improve and maybe win a Champions League title, they could rise. For other clubs, potentially Schalke, which has a huge domestic following but usually chokes when it counts. Leverkusen plays good football and is solid, but nobody wants to root for a corporation, so they’re out.
The future growth of German football will need to happen on an international level. The local market is pretty much full – thankfully, since it’s the best in the world. But the German clubs need to increase their financial strength in order to keep their stars and attract others. The only source of this income will be international marketing, since Germany has wisely resisted the English method of allowing oli-sheiks and corrupt swindler robber barons to buy clubs as toys. And Germany hasn’t followed the Spanish method of under the table government subsidies.
Right now it’s Bayern that is attracting the new fan, as they rampage and pillage through the Bundesliga. (Of course what is different than a similar situation in a worthless league like Scotland is that Bayern also rampages and pillages through Europe and smacks down the other giants.) These fans will buy Bayern kits, declare their ever-lasting Bayern loyalty etc. Maybe even make a pilgramage to the Allianz. Not unlike world-wide ManU, Madrid or Barsa fans. But as more money trickles into the league coffers, hopefully this will allow some of the others like Dortmund, Schalke to start building up followings too.
Great article — I can’t root for Bayern, but I agree that one of the silver linings of their success is advertising for the Bundesliga as a whole.
Fox Sports have secured rights to televise Bundesliga games in the USA and other countries/regions starting with the 2015-2016 season. I believe that GolTV survives at DirecTV, but only if one subscribes to their Spanish-language package.
http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2013/10/14/4836464/fox-sports-secures-german-bundesliga-usa-television-rights-beginning-2015-2016
A successful showing of Team Deutschland at the World Cup wouldn’t hurt the Bundesliga — too bad that most of those curious to see the BL after the WC will be unable to find the games on TV in the US. There is hope that GolTV could sell off the last year of their BL contract so that another network could televise the games — seems it would be in the Bundesliga’s interest to encourage that.
Go Gladbach!
A really good analysis, the kind of which you don’t see in mainstream media. Yes, the BL is doing well financially. Yes, the international TV market is the key to future development. Yes, there is new interest in the BL and some potential related to that.
When I was young, I loved Bayern. Because that’s what marketing fed me. When I moved to Germany, I realized what a club meant. The fact that I picked up BVB was accidental. But what I’ve come to realize, is that Bayern is not the “trickle-down” leader of the Bundesliga, but rather its main roadblock.
I don’t like EPL soccer: its structure, its values, its financing, its game style. But, with the rise of the BL lately, I’ve been more and more at odds with the “international” Bayern fan out there. These people are mindless pushers of BL-hype. They don’t understand the problems of the BL. All they care is that “their” shitty scavenging club is very successful of late. More importantly, the main premise is wrong: as long as Bayern will continue to dominate as they have (twice the turnover of Dortmund gives you a lot of leverage), the league will not become more interesting, overall. Bayern themselves are happy with the situation: as long as Dortmund APPEAR to be an equal competitor (but aren’t), Bayern will continue to cash in 50% of all domestic titles, further consolidating their European position.
There is no point in dumping on the “two-horse-race” Primera, as long as the BL is in reality a “one-horse-race”. I’m assuming two is better than one, for that purpose. (I’m not talking to you, John, I’m talking about the BL evangelists out there.) And, let’s be fair: is a game between Bremen and Wolfsburg these days better than one between Betis and Sevilla? Or Newcastle and Sunderland, for that matter?
The Bundesliga has certain advantages. Let’s push the real advantages, not the Bayern hype. Those are as ephemeral as (hopefully) the current interest in Bayern.
Really good points. What makes German football the best is the league and history. But that history is really only accessible to the local fans. (and you too are experiencing that now, correct?) Unless you grew up in Wuppertal, you’re really not going to understand the trials and tribulations, the traditions, the rivalries surrounding WSV. That’s what really makes German football for me, I experienced it first hand and lived and breathed it over a period of time. Yeah, been to Spain, Italy, England and seen a game or two in person, but it was basically a passing thing. (I even saw Valenciennes play when our car broke down on a Sunday on the way to Paris…) Those leagues will never compete with Germany, at least for me. But if you look at the Bundesliga, future growth (in dollars/euros) is going to come from TV, particularly international. The German market is pretty much saturated. But in order to compete with Bayern, the other clubs will need to increase revenue somehow, and I don’t see where else that money is going to come from. It’s a bit of a Catch-22, and the Evil Empire gets to keep the status quo.
I’m not sure what the solution would be (except obviously of WSV gaining promotion to the Regionalliga this year, followed by multiple promotions up to the top), but I figured I’d raise the issue and see what German football fans thought (and you all must be fans, or pretty bored to be reading this blog…)
I can’t really “experience” German club culture right now, because I live in the States, goddammit! As of now, I’m trying my best to raise (the right kind of) interest in soccer in Detroit, of all places…
But if and when I move back to Germany, soccer will be a big part of my life, although it already is here.
I also want you to know that kicker.de picked up your topic only a few days after:
http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/599612/2/slideshow_es-gibt-keinen-grund-fuer-neid.html
It’s one of their photo-series, where BL execs are quoted on the Bayern dominance. Most of them are pathetically subordinate. The exceptions are Bruchhagen (Frankfurt chairman of the board) who’s the only one to clearly state that Bayern is systematically weakening its rivals, notably through transfers, and Kind (Hannover), who at least states the obvious fact that the BL “starts with 2nd place”. Everybody else, including my favorite, Rudi Voeller, is pretty much worthless, mouthing off feel-good stuff about the Bundesliga. If you want to know how well the BL really does, check today’s Schalke – Real result, or last week’s Leverkusen – PSG.
In what way does ‘history’ make the Bundesliga the best in the world?
Good leagues are never dominated by 1 or even 1 or 2 teams. Sadly this trend is becoming more prevalent worldwide eg. England & Spain.
The Bundesliga has 1 huge disadvantage regarding worldwide domination – the German language.
Fair enough, not so much history, but how the German leagues and clubs formed. First, they are true clubs, owned by the fans, or more accurately, the members. In recent years that has been under assault, but for the most part it still holds true in the vast majority of clubs: the local members decide, and many of them played for the club in some capacity at the youth level. I think that gives everything a different perspective than having an owner, however benevolent he may be. I would also argue that the literature as it pertains to league/club/statistics is superior to what I’ve seen in other countries, although admittedly aside from England (which has a very robust tradition), I haven’t seen that much (and of course you have to speak German). From a strictly historical sense, German football is pretty interesting from the different periods, the early Kaiser years, the Weimar years, the 3rd Reich, post-war recovery, the GDR and finally the Bundesliga. Each era put a different spin on the game, each interesting in it’s own right. Of course, that makes no difference to the vast majority of fans that just want to see the highlights from yesterday’s match, but it’s quite alluring if you like football history.
You’re right on the trend of teams dominating the leagues, but that’s the wave of the future. The days of some upstart team of nobodies winning the league are disappearing fast. (Which makes Montpellier’s title in France all the more shocking). But it’s the giants that will dominate. We may not like it so, but it’s really inevitable. Football is a business, at least at the top. So if you want competition at the top, other clubs need to get big. (And you could argue that’s what is exactly happening in the EPL this season. Spain today has a 3 way tie for 1st, although it’s questionable whether Atletico Madrid can maintain that – although they certainly have the potential). An American style solution of salary caps would never happen, and be unenforceable anyway. For Germany, for the Bundesliga not to remain a one horse race, it’s teams like Dortmund, Schalke and a couple of others that need to grow their incomes so at least they can hold their players from jumping to Bayern.
You’re also right about the German language. I guess that’s one reason I have this blog/site…
The way things are going – financially that is – should be a major worry for the Bundesliga as essentially you have Bayern dominating from the early 70s onwards, with occasional unsustained challenges from Moenchengladbach, Hamburg, Dortmund and Cologne. If this continues it could potentially become very boring and about as interesting as the Scotish league.
The other big city teams ‘should’ achieve much more than they have as they are effectively the only team in the city (and they are big cities). Ironically it is Bayern who have the biggest intra-city challenge in 1860.
“unsustained” being the operative word. don’t get me wrong, i think that bayern did something very right financially in the 70s and 80s. still trying to figure out what that was. what i see right now is not that impressive. it’s mostly a very rich club getting richer, like morgan stanley or goldman sachs.
agree with everything. the european “superleague” is coming, in one form or the other. our best hope (in the club-ethic sort of way, is for as many now marginal teams to be able to be on that bandwagon, when the time comes.
however, there are still interesting front-lines. for example, when psg and monaco join the european superleague, will the other french clubs simply accept it? will bruchhagen and kind? things have not been decided yet…