Ghost games: frustration and worries in German professional leagues
Created: 12/22/2021, 3:37 PM
Empty ranks will be back to normal in handball in the future.
At THW-Kiel you miss the great fans.
© Gregor Fischer / dpa
The decision to only allow ghost games after Christmas because of the Omikron variant causes frustration for many league leaders and clubs.
Many see their existence threatened.
Berlin - The prospect of ghost games has triggered frustration and existential fears in professional sport.
"The thought arises that professional sport is a symbol to make the seriousness of the situation clear to the population, and that professional sport has to pay for what it was not responsible for," criticized the managing director of the Basketball Bundesliga, Stefan Holz Decision of the federal and state governments from the previous day.
No spectators allowed
Accordingly, due to the rapid spread of the Omikron variant of the corona virus, no more spectators will be admitted to all major events - including sports - from December 28th.
"From an infectious point of view, nothing speaks against 2G plus with test, FFP2 mask or booster vaccination with test to let a few hundred people into the hall," said Holz of the dpa.
The almost two years of the Corona crisis have already resulted in significant shortfalls in income for the top clubs in the most important team sports in Germany.
With the emergence of the new virus variant, hopes for improvement are over for the time being.
Especially in basketball, ice hockey and handball, in which ticket revenues make up a much larger share of the clubs' budget than in football, worries grow into desperation.
Wood: perspective is missing
"What comes after the next Corona variant?
And then it goes on forever?
That's not a perspective, ”said Holz.
According to him, the financial situation for the basketball clubs is "totally difficult, simply critical".
Not every club will survive, he warned.
Managing director Nils Mittmann from the basketball Bundesliga club Löwen Braunschweig shared this assessment.
"That has extreme effects and is life-threatening for everyone except football," he told the "Braunschweiger Zeitung".
"Effects are dramatic"
But even in professional football, worries are spreading with the prospect of empty ranks.
"The effects are dramatic", quoted sportbuzzer.de majority shareholder Martin Kind from the second division Hannover 96. The Lower Saxony had only allowed 5000 spectators in the last league game of the year on Sunday against Werder Bremen.
"5000 is just a drop in the bucket," said Kind.
There was nothing left anyway.
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The outgoing managing director of Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln and future CEO of VfB Stuttgart, Alexander Wehrle, calculated: "Every ghost game costs us 1.8 million euros." Eighth visited.
Both the basketball Bundesliga and the German ice hockey league are immediately affected by the resolutions.
In ice hockey, too, games are scheduled over the festive season and the turn of the year.
The Bundesliga, on the other hand, will take a break until January 7th, the 2nd Bundesliga and 3rd league until January 14th.
The men's handball Bundesliga (HBL) will take a break from the European Championship until the beginning of February after December 28th.
However, based on the current status and the forecasts of the experts, it seems highly unlikely that the issue of ghost games will have been dealt with by then.
Corona aid is only little consolation
The continuation of the Corona-Aid professional sport program beyond the end of the year agreed at the federal-state summit is only little consolation.
That is good and important, said Mittmann from the Braunschweig basketball team.
Nevertheless: "If we don't have fans, we cannot fulfill the contracts with the sponsors either and have to expect reclaims, which puts our industry in extreme difficulties."
Kaweh Niroomand, manager of the volleyball master BR Volleys, warned of a general ban on playing sports.
Otherwise, the 69-year-old fears a further decline in membership of the clubs, which would result in a further weakening of society.
"Nowhere is the school of democracy better positioned than in the clubs," said the former Vice President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) of the dpa.
In addition to economic aid, leverage should also be applied in the social segments.
"The connection between fan or supporter and the club in question has already suffered and will continue to suffer," said Niroomand.
He called for a "sport stimulus program".
Niroomand hopes the measures will only apply in the short term.
“Under no circumstances should they last until the end of the season.” Dpa
