Center for Sports & Management

How the Bundesliga wants to conquer the US market

The clubs and the DFL want to pursue new sources of revenue outside their home market. Their focus is on the USA where the competition among the various sports and international leagues is particularly cutthroat.

It is cold and the snow falls quietly when Christian Seifert, Managing Director of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga, leaves the Thurn und Taxis Palais in downtown Frankfurt in January 2017. The DFL's 10th New Year's Reception has just come to an end; where, at the invitation of Seifert and DFL President Reinhard Rauball, the most important decision-makers in the German football industry met. In front of around 370 guests, Seifert reported on the league's record turnover and highlighted the new media rights contract, the second highest national TV contract in a football league worldwide. Among Seifert's many conversations with representatives of Germany’s top football clubs and large media companies, one topic was repeatedly discussed: the internationalisation of the Bundesliga.

>>> Read the whole article by Prof. Schmidt for Capital on LinkedIn