By David Owen
May 14 – Could this be the start of the German decade – a period of increasing dominance over European football by the Bundesliga?
A leading management consultant has raised this question as Germany’s Bayern Munich prepare to take on Chelsea of England on Saturday (May 19) in Munich in the final of the 2012 UEFA Champions League.
Emmanuel Hembert, principal at A T Kearney, the global management consultancy, believes the match – which could result in the crowning of the first UEFA Champions League winner from Germany since 2001 – “brings to the fore the power struggle we have seen go on between the Bundesliga and the Premier League”.
He goes on: “Back in 2009, we identified the Bundesliga as the main challenger to overtake the Premier League as the dominating force in European football.
“Our 2010 football sustainability study further demonstrated the strength of the Bundesliga model against the other major leagues.
“The recent record media deal signed with Sky is a clear confirmation of what we predicted at the time.”
Sky Deutschland last month won the rights to show Bundesliga matches online, as well as via cable and satellite broadcasts, for four seasons from August 2013.
But the company said it would pay on average €486 million (£387 million/$624 million) a year for what is a broader rights package than that for which it is paying an average of €250 million (£199 million/$321 million) a year over the four seasons to June next year.
Posing the question – how is the Bundesliga getting things so right suddenly? – Hembert suggests effective cost control is a key factor.
It is, he says, “the only league…that is able to control its costs through two main mechanisms.
“Firstly, the financial control that prevents clubs living above their means.
“Secondly, the systematic development of youth academies”, which helps German clubs to develop the players they need at a lower cost than on the transfer market.
The Bundesliga, he says, also benefits from “favourable conditions in terms of revenue-generation.
“The €1.4 billion (£1.1 billion/$1.8 billion) investment in stadia for the 2006 World Cup, which led to extra capacity, comfort and hospitality, was in large part publicly funded.”
Moreover, this economic activity was spread across the country, allowing “many clubs to sell many very profitable sponsorship and hospitality packages”.
Even so, until news of the Sky deal broke, the Bundesliga was still, Hembert says, “behind all the other four [leading west European] leagues in terms of media revenue”.
With the new deal, he argues, “this gap has been significantly reduced”, adding: “The financial domination of the Bundesliga is now confirmed.”
Hembert concludes: “History shows that domination on the pitch is likely to come next.
“Perhaps we will see this on May 19?”
No doubt thousands of Chelsea fans will be hoping he is mistaken.
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