Berlin (EFE) their football culture.
The plan is to found a subsidiary that deals with the transmission rights of which 12.5 percent would be sold to an external investor for the next 20 years, with which it is intended to obtain income of 2,000 million euros.
The representatives of the 36 clubs of the first and second Bundesliga must decide on May 24 on the project, whose approval requires a two-thirds majority.
In anticipation of that moment, the managing director of the DFL, Axel Hellmann, and the president of the Supervisory Board, Hans-Joachim Watzke, have met with representatives of fan groups to try to allay the concerns that exist.
Helmann, at a meeting in Dortmund, said it was not about forcing more commercialization of soccer or trying to emulate the Premier League but about modernizing the sale of rights and increasing competitiveness.
“It can be compared to the roof of a house that has leaks. We have a good construction that has been working for years but we have to work on some things, not on the foundation, but on the roof that has leaks,” he said.
“Internationally there are some who are leaving us behind, we have to do something,” he added.
Watzke, for his part, said that he had been fighting for twenty years to maintain the 50+1 rule -which requires members to have at least 51 percent of the votes in club decisions, with exceptions- as to now allow the entry of a “Trojan horse” that increases the influence of investors.
Among the concerns of the fan groups is that there is a greater diversification of the start times of the matches of each day.
The DFL was recently forced to abolish Monday matches due to resistance from fan groups.
In this regard, Helmann said that the DFL could already diversify the schedules, which however has not done and will not do with the arrival of an investor.