Status: 21.09.2023, 10:29 a.m.
By: Luca Hartmann
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Only the final of the German team at the Basketball World Cup was shown on free TV. Reason enough for Uli Hoeneß to express sharp criticism of ARD and ZDF
Munich - The 71-year-old has been proving for years that Uli Hoeneß is a man of clear words. Not only as far as his FC Bayern is concerned, Hoeneß also regularly takes a stand on sports policy issues. The honorary president of FC Bayern was particularly annoyed by the broadcast of the Basketball World Cup – and sharply criticised the public broadcasters.
| Uli Hoeneß | |
|---|---|
| Born: | 5 January 1952 (aged 71 years) in Ulm |
| Position: | Member of the Supervisory Board and Honorary President of FC Bayern |
| Achievements as a player: | World Champion 1974, European Champion 1972, 3x European Cup 1974-76 |
Because of the Basketball World Cup: Hoeneß sharply criticizes ARD and ZDF
Hoeneß has been a big basketball fan for years and regularly attends FC Bayern games in the Basketball Bundesliga and the European Cup. Just like many fans, the 71-year-old criticizes the broadcasters' handling of the Basketball World Cup. "In general, you can see that the public broadcasters are on the wrong track," Hoeneß told the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
At the same time, he criticizes the broadcasters' choice of programs: "They should show what viewers want to see, not what they think they have to produce. I watch the hundred-thousandth talk show, but when the German national team wins the World Cup, I don't see anything for a long time."
Because of their handling of the broadcast of the Basketball World Cup, Uli Hoeneß sharply criticized ARD and ZDF. © Sven Hoppe/dpa
ZDF will not start broadcasting until the final
In Germany, many fans are of the same opinion as Hoeneß and would have liked an earlier broadcast of the German games on television. ARD and ZDF had pointed out before the World Cup that they did not own any rights. It was not until the final, in which Germany was sensationally crowned world champion, that ZDF got involved after buying a sub-license from Telekom. On average, 4.626 million people watched the game. Previously, all seven games of the German team had only been broadcast on the streaming service MagentaSport.
"After the quarter-finals at the latest, I think we should have pulled out all the stops to include the World Cup with this great team in the program," Hoeneß criticized the insufficient efforts of ARD and ZDF. In the meantime, Deutsche Telekom had already agreed to resell rights.
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Hoeneß appeals to "television executives"
In the interview, Hoeneß also appeals to the public broadcasters to secure the rights to major sporting events. "The highlights of important sports must be secured by the public broadcasters. We have to!", Hoeneß explains clearly. The public broadcasters should "focus on the people and not on their own ideas".
Germany's victory in the semi-finals against the USA was "great drama". "But our public broadcasters prefer to broadcast how an actor walks his dog," the long-time Bayern president sharply criticizes ARD and ZDF.
Incidentally, Hoeneß was recently in the headlines because he gave a woman an autograph on her back, which she then had tattooed. (LuHa)
