Episode 69: Just say Nein! Bundesliga fans say no to more corporate investment, what now? Guests David Hellier Sports business writer (Bloomberg) and Mark Meehan Chelsea FC shadow board member.

Thank you for your interest in the BvB London fan community podcast, as every week the focus of the show will be on exploring a facet of football life with a focus on Borussia Dortmund by talking to experts, fans, and players and coaches. 

People, including journalists, who make up the football world including decision makers and who know the football world and the world of BVB well.

The aim of the podcast is to make Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga, and developments in international football accessible.

On today's English-language podcast our guests are David Hellier, a journalist at Bloomberg who leads the channels coverage of  sport and football business who features regularly on Bloomberg TV and is the former editor of City AM. 

The second guest is Mark Meehan a Chelsea season ticket-holder for over 30 years, author of the book: 'Blue Tomorrow' on the Ken Bates era at Chelsea (1982-2003), and is the Chairman of the Chelsea Supporters Trust, and is a member of the club's advisory trust. 

The aim of the show is to look at what's going with Investments into football clubs, fans stakes and what impact this can have on the German 50+1 model.

The holding company of the Bundesliga, the DFL, decided on Thursday, following an ongoing wave of protests by fans, to drop the plan to sell a stake in the media rights to an outside investor. 

The sale of media rights was carried out by La Liga and Ligue 1 which raised a short-term cash injection but two years after the pandemic many clubs in the leagues are back in financial difficulty.

Many observers argue that had this gone ahead in Germany it would have benefitted the league very little in the long run. 

The fans in the Bundesliga have shown by their actions their commitment to the 50+1 rule which limits outside investors and protects the rights of members to have a say in the way clubs are run.

In the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, thanks to the 50+1 rule, which ensure that members retain the majority stake in football clubs, the situation is different. Following Hoffenheim's change of ownership in November, fans now retain a controlling influence in all but three clubs; VfL Wolfsburg, RB Leipzig and Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Football clubs however are increasingly coming under the control of investment funds, including state-backed funds, and football has long been a desirable cash-generating, if not always profitable, asset.

Investment by high-net-worth individuals, and corporations in football, in particular in the Premier League has risen sharply. Now only one English top tier club, newly promoted Luton Town, remains fan-owned.

In the 22/23 season investors increased their stakes in German clubs. David Blitzer's 'Bolt investment holdings' into FC Augsburg, and 777 Partners investment into Hertha Berlin in particular are notable.

The stake of fans, in particular in England, has been reduced significantly in recent years, so what insights can be gained from the German fans lead? 

The topics:

What impact would a sale in media rights have on the 50+1 model in German football?

How is the investment by funds, including venture capital funds and multi-club owners changing the wider football landscape?
 

In which way does the English club ownership model contrast with the 50+1 model of membership in Germany?

What does the new record £6.7bn Premier League media deal with Sky and TNT mean for the competition like the Bundesliga? 

What has been the Premier League's contrasting financial fortunes with those of Bundesliga clubs been since the pandemic?

What has La Liga's experience experience with selling a share in their media rights to CVC been since 2021?

Plus why is the Bundesliga's member ownership a model for football?
And what is the fan experience of being a member in a Bundesliga club i.e BVB? And what are organised fans in Germany's main concerns about the rights sale?

Social media. 

Apologies for the sound issues at the start of the podcast which were down to an unavoidable technical difficulty.

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