Several clubs at risk of bankruptcy in the Bundesliga
The stop in sports competitions due to the world pandemic of Covid-19 has raised several issues from an economic point of view to clubs, however, the German regulation makes the German case particularly delicate.
Weak guarantees in case of unforeseen events
Unlike other European media leagues that also offer media protection to their clubs in the event of unforeseen events, thus maintaining the payment of television and sponsorship rights, the same is not true in the Bundesliga, which does not have a provision for the protection of clubs in such a case. .
Several clubs at risk of bankruptcy in the Bundesliga
With that in mind, several clubs are trembling at the possibility of not receiving the corresponding amounts in the coming months due to the lack of competition. Of course, it will always be the smaller clubs that are most dependent on external revenue to get into a delicate situation in the face of these unexpected events.
According to the German newspaper Bild, these are the clubs at risk of going bankrupt if they do not receive the amounts that would be expected if the season is running normally: Werder Bremen, Fortuna Dusseldorf, Mainz, FC Koln, Paderborn and also Nuremberg 2.Bundesliga.
Jan Lehmann, director of Mainz, has already warned that 50 to 60% of the club’s revenues derive from the media and if they do not receive the May payment they may actually run into a serious problem of non-payment since something like 15 or 16 will be at stake millions of euros. The CEO of Fortuna Dusseldorf also left an alert stressing the idea that this is a phase in which the richest clubs need to be on the side of the poorest and support them as much as possible.
Institutional solidarity will have to prevail
One thing that seems decisive here so that the situation may not become really dramatic is solidarity. In addition to the wealthier clubs that will be able to provide some kind of assistance in this more delicate phase, the television operators themselves will also be able to provide some support, namely by paying some percentage of the amount due.
Equally important will be the role of the Bundesliga leadership who will have to step in to safeguard the rights of their clubs, especially those less financially equipped who are more dependent on foreign revenue to survive demanding German football.
This will be a scenario that could go on for two / three months and that could seriously jeopardize the clubs mentioned above, however, there arealso the hope that all this problem with the coronavirus can be solved with some brevity, possibly boosting a return to competitions by the end of April.
