Not just about football: Why the Champions League matters so much to BVB | OneFootball

Yesterday, Borussia Dortmund secured an excellent position for the return leg at Atalanta Bergamo with a 2-0 home victory. This makes remaining in the Champions League more likely—which BVB also needs in order to continue playing among Europe’s elite clubs, as CEO Carsten Cramer recently explained.

Cramer did so at Spobis, the world’s largest sports business congress, which takes place annually in Germany. In January, the BVB CEO spoke for the first time in his new role to the assembled marketing experts. Frank Hellmann was also in attendance for Sportschau.

Under the eye-catching premise “How many millions is BVB missing for the championship?” Cramer willingly provided information about BVB’s situation during a panel discussion, without, however, addressing the headline question directly.

Cramer described his BVB as the “second German beacon” in professional football, standing on a “really solid foundation.” He pointed out that only Borussia Dortmund has consistently filled the role as number 2 behind FC Bayern Munich. All other German clubs have had their ups, but then, due to various difficulties, slip back down—at least in this specific role. “We’ve been at a high level for an extremely long time.”

Photo: IMAGO

Top-20 Revenue “No Matter of Course”

It is undisputed that participation in the Champions League is essential. Up to 100 million euros are received annually from it. This contributes a significant portion to the more than 500 million euros that BVB now generates per season. While the available budget is not the only factor for sporting success, these funds are undoubtedly needed to invest even more strategically in sports and infrastructure.

The Bundesliga remains, even for BVB, the oft-cited “bread-and-butter business.” However, the club must compensate for its locational disadvantage of not being based in a state capital or similar metropolis. It should not be forgotten that Dortmund is merely a city of 600,000 inhabitants, and not the most economically powerful one at that.

When it comes to catering, BVB cannot charge its audience the same prices as other major clubs, and this applies even more to ticket prices. Especially in an international context, these disadvantages must be offset in other ways. Regularly being among the world’s 20 highest-revenue clubs is anything but a given, Cramer says. For this, Champions League income is absolutely indispensable for BVB.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.