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Supercup game on the weekend between Kiel and Flensburg.
Now follows a season with "uncertainty and little planning security"
Photo:
HORSTMUELLER GmbH / Schröder / imago images / Horstmüller
In the beginning, Patrick Wiencek wasn't that sad about the forced break in the German handball Bundesliga (HBL).
Finally, the THW Kiel cyclist was able to spend more time with the family, and even lost more than eleven kilos in July.
But at some point the German international had the feeling that things should start again.
After the league was canceled and the THW was declared a Corona master, the game was idle for almost six months.
The new Bundesliga season starts in the evening with the game Magdeburg against Bergische HC (7 p.m. / TV: Sky).
A lot is at stake for the HBL: Their hygiene concept, which made the return of the teams and parts of the fans possible in the first place, is being put to the test, and with it their entire business model.
Wiencek recognized this: "We have to show that handball still exists. The longer we disappear, the more difficult the situation becomes," said the cyclist to SPIEGEL.
Because the clubs are particularly dependent on viewer income from Kiel in the north to Balingen in the south.
From club to club, the figure varies between 30 and 40 percent, which the viewer income contributes to the total budget.
Only the sponsorship income is even more important (an average of 62 percent).
In comparison, the clubs - unlike in football - collect only a fraction of their total income from TV money.
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Circle runner Patrick Wiencek could face 40 games by the end of January
Photo:
Jörg Lühn / imago images / Holsteinoffice
When the HBL clubs agreed to end the season for the first time in the history of the Bundesliga at the end of April, this caused sales losses of an estimated 25 million euros by the end of June.
"After the end of the season, we lost almost 100 percent of our income, while our expenses have been running for months to a not insignificant extent. That can't go well for long," said Frank Bohmann to SPIEGEL.
The HBL managing director is concerned about how long the clubs, which had to send their players and employees on short-time work due to a lack of income, will even hold out.
Until the start of the league, none of the top division clubs should fall by the wayside financially.
However, if the new season were to be canceled in the first half of the season, the entire season would be canceled, says Bohmann.
The consequences could lead many clubs into bankruptcy.
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HBL managing director Frank Bohmann predicts that the league can only hold out the current situation until Christmas
Photo: Marius Becker / picture alliance / dpa
The fact that handball is the first sport after football in Germany to start with spectators again sends out a signal for Bohmann for the entire sport.
For this, among other things, modern ventilation systems, detached rows of seats and additional security personnel would have to be made possible.
And that's expensive.
Each location had to invest roughly a six-figure sum in converting the halls.
The Rhein-Neckar Löwen will start without a spectator because there was not enough time to adapt the hygiene concept.
It is just as expensive to host a home game for 20 to 25 percent of the spectators as it is for a full hall, explains the Löwen's managing director, Jennifer Kettemann, to SPIEGEL.
In the future, it will be decisive how the number of infections in Germany develops and what effects this will then have on the clubs.
HBL must also develop concepts in order to be able to react if the situation worsens.
"We aim to hold all 38 game days with a total of 380 games. If the number of infections increases, we inevitably have to think about another feasible mode," says Bohmann.
So far, spectators have only been admitted to the hall on a trial basis until the end of October.
HBL hopes that this test phase will run smoothly in order to be able to advertise to politicians for a higher utilization of the hall.
Deadline stress preprogrammed
In addition, there is another issue that the HBL has problems with: the full schedule.
It heats up the issue, which is always present anyway, about the excessive stress on the players in handball.
National player Wiencek, for example, could have played an average of ten games per month if he made it to the semi-finals with Germany at the World Cup in January.
That would mean a game every three days.
"My body can withstand a lot if it has to. We have to put up with ten games a month, but then at some point I'm exhausted and that shows on the field," says the 31-year-old.
There was no relegation in either league, which is why the next season will be played with 20 instead of 18 teams, which has increased the number of games again.
The deadline stress is additionally increased by competitions that have to be postponed due to the pandemic and now have to be rescheduled: the finals in the Champions League and the DHB Cup as well as the Olympic Games plus qualifications.
In addition, there is the EM qualification.
And then the next season is already waiting in autumn 2021.
How long does it work
More players and more changes
To compensate for the burden, the world association IHF changed the regulations for the world championships in Egypt.
National coach Alfred Gislason can now call 20 instead of 18 players for the tournament and nominate up to five times.
In the Bundesliga, when two or more teams are tied, the goal difference does not count as before, but the direct comparison.
A 30:29 is worth as much as a 35:29.
The goal chase does not have to be held until the last second.
That at least takes some of the pressure off the top players.
Bohmann appeals to the coaches to use the entire breadth of the squad.
It cannot be in the league's interest if there are numerous injured athletes in the end, he says.
However, more players mean more club spending.
For Jennifer Kettemann, the managing director of Rhein-Neckar Löwen, the new season is associated with "uncertainty and little planning security".
But she also says: "We don't want to complain, we just want to play."
Icon: The mirror