The list of candidates for a stake in German football’s future broadcast revenues could soon be down to just one after US financial investor Blackstone said it was considering withdrawing from the bidding process, a move which would leave CVC Capital Partners as the only remaining contender.
After Bloomberg first reported Blackstone’s concerns, a source also confirmed to DW on Tuesday that the private equity firm was indeed considering stepping away from the process which they said had “gone on for a very long time, during which parameters have moved.”
The source cited “structuring and economic factors around the deal [which] mean that it’s hard to see how we could make the setup work” as well as “destabilizing” public calls from German fan groups and some club officials for a revote on the issue, leading to “too much uncertainty about the transaction.”
The Reuters news agency also quoted sources familiar with the matter who cited threats by some club officials to prolong the process further as a reason for the withdrawal of interest, with one source saying: “It’s a messy situation.” German newspaper Die Zeit has also confirmed the reports.
What is the Bundesliga’s investment deal all about?
The private equity firms are vying for a contract which would see them invest around €1 billion ($1.07bn) in a media rights subsidiary of the German Football League (DFL), which operates the Bundesliga, in return for an 8% share of broadcast rights revenues over the next 20 years.
The DFL was given the go-ahead to negotiate a deal after 24 of its 36 member clubs voted in favor on December 11, giving co-CEOs Marc Lenz and Steffen Merkel the necessary two-thirds majority mandate.
However, there has since been a fierce backlash from German football fans who are not only fundamentally opposed to too much external investment in the game, but who also suspect that the minimum 24-vote threshold could only be achieved by way of a secret ballot which allowed one club representative to vote contrary to an explicit directive from his parent club.
Recent weeks have seen matches in Bundesliga 1 and Bundesliga 2 interrupted by up to half-an-hour as angry fans have thrown tennis balls, chocolate coins and other objects onto the pitch, while some fans in Hamburg even fastened bicycle locks to the goalposts.
Some club officials including the president of third-place VfB Stuttgart, Claus Vogt, have called for a transparent revote. Others, such as Eintracht Frankfurt board member and former DFL interim co-CEO Axel Hellmann, have said that a revote would be legally unworkable.
Material from Reuters and SID were used in this report.
Edited by Louis Oelofse
