Bayern chairman enters debate over Bundesliga rights

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of Bayern Munich, has rallied behind an “overdue” debate triggered by 2.Bundesliga club St. Pauli over the distribution of revenue from the broadcast rights to German football.

According to the Digital Fernsehen website, Rummenigge (pictured) said he expects the proposals of St. Pauli, which currently lies third in the 2.Bundesliga, to create an “interesting” discussion when the 36 Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga clubs come together at a German Football League (DFL) meeting on December 2.

St. Pauli’s managing director Andreas Rettig this week questioned the place of the Bundesliga’s so-called ‘factory clubs’ in the league’s central marketing model for broadcast rights and commercial partnerships.

Hoffenheim became the latest team to fall under this bracket in December 2014 after billionaire Dietmar Hopp’s majority control was approved by the DFL. The ownership model took effect from July 1 after Hopp, co-founder of the SAP software company, fulfilled an exception to the so-called 50+1 rule due to his continuous investment in the club over the past two decades.

Under the rules, no individual or company can own a majority stake in a Bundesliga club unless they have been the major single investor for at least 20 years. The measures were brought in to curb short-term investors looking to make a quick profit. Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg were previously the only majority-owned clubs in the Bundesliga, with both having been founded by factories.

Rummenigge has been a vocal figure in calls for an overhaul in the Bundesliga’s broadcast rights model and a change in the method of revenue distribution for the top division of German football, as the DFL prepares to open a new rights tender.

In July, Rummenigge said the Bundesliga should switch from its current centralised rights model and allow clubs to market their rights on an individual basis. Rummenigge believes Bundesliga champion Bayern could quadruple its media rights revenues through selling its own rights, adding that such a change would also benefit other clubs if a solidarity scheme was established alongside a new model.

A tender for the next cycle of Bundesliga rights, from 2017-18 to 2020-21, is expected to be opened by the middle of 2016.

Regarding next week’s meeting, Rummenigge added: “We must make the case that we – and this is a major task of the German Football League – maintain the competitive hold of the Bundesliga internationally.”