Games without spectators, less TV revenues: Corona has hit the Bundesliga clubs hard. Borussia Dortmund is in the red for the first time in a long time.
Dortmund (AP) - The Corona crisis has torn a hole in the box office of Bundesliga soccer club Borussia Dortmund. The runner-up shows a minus of 43.9 million euros for the 2019/20 financial year.
However, managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke sees the listed club as prepared for a longer financial lean period. The solvency was "available well beyond this season," he said on Monday at the BVB balance sheet press conference. Borussia could "hold out the pandemic situation for a very, very long time", stressed Watzke and referred to the equity of 305 million euros.
The group turnover remained almost constant at around 370 million euros. If the transfer income achieved is added, BVB achieved total sales of almost 487 million euros, around 2.5 million euros less than in the previous financial year.
After the end of the Corona break, BVB had to play the last 5 home games in the Bundesliga without spectators. As a result, the total income from ticket sales for Bundesliga games fell by 7.8 million euros to 20.4 million euros. In addition, reduced income in sponsorship, TV revenues and, in particular, transfer revenues would have had a massive impact. From the player transfers, BVB earned just over 40 million euros this time, in the previous financial year it was more than twice as much.
According to Watzke, BVB will only be in the black again, "if we have no restrictions on the spectators. But we have to be patient." If the Bundesliga had to wait longer for stadiums to be sold out, then the minus at Borussia could be even higher. But even that would not threaten the existence of the company, stressed the BVB boss. BVB shareholders should not receive a dividend. Watzke emphasized that BVB has not introduced any short-time working for its employees.
The BVB boss advocated small steps when the audience returned. He currently does not consider five-digit audience figures for Bundesliga games to be appropriate, said the BVB boss. Depending on the size of the stadiums, 5000 to 8000 spectators are conceivable. That would be "safe events".
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