"Soccer affects the emotions of billions - of people and involves millions of euros!" With these words, the Dean, Prof. Dr. Ansgar Schwirtz, as a representative for the TUM president, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang A. Herrmann, greeted Karl Hopfner on Monday evening. The president of FC Bayern München was a guest in the course of the "Speaker Series" at the TU Munich.
Already for more than 14 years, the Department of Sport and Health Sciences has been a partner to the FC Bayern in the fields of sport sciences and sport medicine. For instance with advice and support in the fields of performance diagnostics and training regulation for the youth teams of the current German champions.
Around 2000 students in three lecture halls
In the main lecture hall, which was filled to capacity, Hopfner reported on the structure and development of the largest club in the world with its 260,000 members. Subsequently, the FC Bayern president discussed such topics as TV rights, financial fair play and investors in soccer on the stage with two students, Martin Gösele and Julius Bock.
The enormous charisma of the record German champion was also to be seen on Monday evening where around 2000 students took advantage of this invitation. The lecture from Hopfner was consequently the largest event since the start of the Speakers Series in the year 2000 and exceeded the capacity of the TUM main lecture hall. As a consequence, TUM Business Club, as organizers, streamed the lecture via video into two further lecture halls.
Success story of FC Bayern
Hopfner has worked for FC Bayern since 1983, first as the director for economical and administrative interests. The club has clearly undergone changes over the past 30 years. "In 1983, we had a turnover of 12 million euros, while it was more than 500 million euros in 2013 and 2014", explains Hopfner. The number of employees grew from 12 full-time staff members to 700, while the membership in the club increased from 6000 to 260,000. "We are a commercial enterprise," emphasizes Hopfner. "But one where sport, that is soccer, absolutely stands in the forefront. Our goal is to achieve the maximum athletic success at the same time with the best possible economical results," according to the president of FC Bayern.
How good this has functioned over the past 32 years was demonstrated by Dean Schwirtz with series of numbers. "Do the numbers 2, 4, 6, 11, 18 and 45 mean anything to you," Schwirtz wanted to know from the auditorium. "These are not the lottery numbers, but represent instead the success of FC Bayern since Karl Hopfner has been working for the club. A total of 45 titles, including 18 German championships, 11 DFB Cup victories, 6 League Cup titles, 4 Super cup titles and 2 Champions League titles," explains Schwirtz.
Hopfner: Need for additional TV revenues
In order for FC Bayern to continue winning titles at this frequency, the club must generate further income. "We were and continue to be leaders in Europe in the field of attaining 'Sponsors' and we are well-positioned in the field of merchandising. There is primarily a need for additional revenues in the field of TV rights," as Hopfner analyzes. The primary German soccer league receives around 500 million euros yearly and thereby less than the leagues in England, Spain, Italy and France, according to the Bayern president. For the 2014/15 season, the soccer magazine "Kicker" has calculated that every Premier League team in England receives an average of 108.4 million euros from TV marketing. In Germany, this is only 32.2 million euros. Through the new TV marketing agreements, which guarantee the Premier League around 2.3 billion euros per season beginning in 2016/17, this gap will become even greater.
Hopfner hopes for new publishing of the national league TV rights. The present contract is valid until June 2016. In order to generate additional revenues, various models are presently being discussed. Among these is also the introduction of a Monday-night game. An elimination of the winter break or the initiation of game days on Christmas, as has long been traditional in England, for instance, is nonetheless rejected by Hopfner, who says, "I want to spend the second day of Christmas at home with my family and not in the stadium."
Hopfner: No compromise accepted for acceptable admission fees
The club has not suffered a loss over the last 30 years, summarizes Hopfner. Responsible for this is the entire management team of the club. Even if further revenue streams are concluded, Hopfner announces that FC Bayern will not make any compromises saying, "Under our guidance, we will always guarantee that a visit to the stadium is possible for everyone at a reasonable price." The students acknowledge this with thundering applause.
The TUM Speakers Series is a series of lectures organized by the students to which prominent individuals from economics, politics and society in general are invited. Since the beginning of the year 2000, we have spoken, among others, with the former German federal president Prof. Dr. Roman Herzog, Prof. Dr.-Eng. Wolfgang Reitzle, CEO of Linde Gas, and former CEO of VW AG, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Martin Winterkorn. The next meeting of the Speaker Series is on November 7. Here, the US ambassador, John B. Emerson, will be our guest.
Department of Sport and Health Sciences
Homepage of the TUM Speakers Series
Text and photos: Fabian Kautz