Bundesliga clubs say marketing potential should decide distribution of TV rights revenue
Bundesliga clubs have united to call for an overhaul in how the revenue from television rights is distributed, arguing that a team’s marketing potential should be taken into account.
VfB Stuttgart has joined Hertha Berlin, Werder Bremen, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hamburg and Cologne in a call for change.
As it stands, all clubs in Germany’s top two leagues receive the same amount of TV rights revenue in an initial payment before earning a second payment which is determined by their league position at the end of the season.
The six clubs who are openly calling for a restructure of how the money is divided up say that a club’s marketing potential should be a contributing factor.
Stuttgart president, Bernd Wahler, has argued that “the league position is only one criterion of several that play a role in determining how attractive a game is for fans and television channels.”
He said: "We need a third column. Whoever increases the value of our communal Bundesliga product, because they have many fans and a lot of public interest, should be considered in the division of the income."
The six clubs pushing the proposal have enjoyed little success in the league and Europe as of late however they have large support bases and are well-known names throughout the footballing world.
The top clubs such as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are unsurprisingly not calling for change. As are other clubs with significant financial backing such Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen, who both qualified for this year’s Champions League and have been more successful, despite having fewer fans, thanks to the corporate support they have received.
The Bundesliga’s next television rights deal will come into play in 2017.