That means the corona shutdown for sport

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Empty amateur soccer ash field 

Photo: Udo Gottschalk / imago images

In sport there is nothing like good preparation, anticipating what to expect.

Of course, Alfons Hörmann and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge also know that.

Hörmann, President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, and Rummenigge, club boss of FC Bayern Munich, have already prepared themselves in the past few days for the opponent who could come up against them: It is the shutdown that Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prime Ministers will use this Wednesday and presidents discuss.

It is about strict restrictions on public life for November.

Sport in all its facets is threatened by far-reaching restrictions, as can be seen from the federal resolution, which SPIEGEL reported on in advance.

Hörmann and Rummenigge did lobby work for their branch in advance.

Hörmann called the club sport a "social filling station network", sport is part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Rummenigge appeared in public as a warning in the service of the Bundesliga.

An interruption of the season could mean the end for many clubs, there would be the risk that the league "collapses as a whole".

Is it really like that?

And what happens when public facilities and fitness studios have to close and members quit in a row?

What if professional teams in a wide variety of sports might continue their competitions, but no more spectators are allowed to come into the halls and stadiums?

An overview.

Amateur sport:

This is where the worst consequences are likely, as the draft resolution says tough: "Institutions and facilities that are assigned to recreational activities will be closed."

This also includes leisure and amateur sports.

The Eimsbütteler Turnverein in Hamburg is one of the largest in the city with around 15,000 members spread over 45 different sports.

Since the draft resolution was leaked on Wednesday night, those responsible for the association have been rotating, and a crisis meeting has been scheduled for 1 p.m. 

ETV chairman Frank Fechner is skeptical of an impending total shutdown: "I see the need for something to happen. But I think that the topic is viewed too undifferentiated," he told SPIEGEL: "The members went through a long dry spell are disciplined. A lockdown would prevent them from exercising again. They have to perceive that as a punishment. "

The ETV had only lost a few members in the first shutdown and the following months.

"The big problem is that we have only accepted a few new members," says Fechner.

The ETV is now worried about the renewed shutdown in combination with a spicy date: the regular termination date on November 30th.

"I fear that we will have a wave of exit at the end of the year," says Fechner: "And that will damage the clubs a lot."

Fitness studios: "

Another shutdown will mean that many studios will finally become over-indebted and will therefore have to go into bankruptcy", Ralph Scholz is certain.

Four weeks are enough.

Scholz is chairman of the German Industry Association for Fitness and Health, he tells SPIEGEL: "We fear that the second lockdown will permanently destroy the basic supply of sports facilities."

In his opinion, the fitness studios have proven that they are able to "implement the hygiene regulations and ensure traceability".

So it is sufficient if you only reduce breathing-intensive training programs (HIT training, endurance, etc.), but at least keep some areas open.

In professional sport, the attitude is clear: basketball players, handball players, ice hockey players - everyone wants to keep going.

Stefan Holz is the managing director of the

Holz told the sports information service that it would be "a disaster for the league if there was a lockdown again. If you stop playing for us, you can lock the store".

The head of the

Gernot Tripcke, warned politicians that by excluding spectators they were depriving the sport of "the basis for survival".

His colleague Frank Bohmann from the

told SPIEGEL about the upcoming restrictions: "We only drive on sight and try to keep our chins above water as long as possible. But we will again discuss a possible end of the season. "

At the end of April, German handball stopped its Bundesliga season prematurely.

The negative business from games without spectators would have been impossible for most clubs.

The new season has been running since October 1st, as the only major indoor sport in Germany.

At the beginning of the season, the handball players hoped to steadily increase the number of spectators.

Normally, the ticketing of a professional handball club makes up 25 to 30 percent of the total budget - when the hall is used to the maximum.

The previous regulation with only a few or sometimes even no spectators was still a losing business in many places, also in view of the expenses for a hygiene concept.

You want to play at least until Christmas, says Bohmann, in case of doubt without an audience.

Professional football:

You are alarmed at the German Football League (DFL).

The representation of the 36 first and second division clubs does not assume that there will be a stop to the game as in March.

It is expected that the audience will be excluded by the end of the year and that the season will continue with so-called "ghost games".

You hear the same thing from politics.

Exclusion would hit the clubs financially, but they would survive.

The DFL is prepared for the "worst case" of the game interruption mentioned by Rummenigge.

According to SPIEGEL information, she has planned bridge financing, would borrow money and then have to pay it back later at a high interest rate.

The entry of an external investor is excluded in order to save the league in the event of a fall.

In response to the lockdown in spring, the DFL created a smaller reserve from TV revenues.

The clubs, however, would not be able to absorb that if the television money breaks away.

In order to minimize the risk that a large part of the TV revenue is missing, the DFL has changed the payment modalities: Instead of four large tranches per season, which are paid to the DFL and then to the clubs, the payments from the rights holders flow like Sky now monthly.

If the game were temporarily interrupted, only a smaller part of the television money would be lost.

Otherwise, the professional clubs rely on the hygiene concept revised by the DFL and the German Football Association (DFB) for the new season.

It applies to the Bundesliga, the second and third division as well as the DFB-Pokal and the women's Bundesliga.

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