League President Dr. Reinhard Rauball explains the fixture schedule and the utilisation scenarios, talking to German news agency "dpa".
Dr. Reinhard Rauball is President of the League Association. The 61 year old lawyer took over from Wolfgang Holzhäuser after the general meeting of the 36 professional clubs in August 2007. Additionally he won confirmed as President of Borussia Dortmund in November 2007.
Question: The fans will have to get used to a different fixture schedule from 2009/10. What prompted the league to that move?
Dr. Reinhard Rauball: On the one hand sporting reasons. For example in the introduction of a third match on Sundays, that became necessary because of the increasingly numerous UEFA Cup matches with German participation on Thursdays. Or in the decision for a "Match of the month" on Saturdays that shall guarantee additional rest after international breaks. Additionally - and it would be stupid to conceal that - marketing aspects played a role as well. TV revenues are a serious cornerstone to finance professional football. In the course of this it's difficult to please everybody. We chose this model to find the highest common denominator. We are convinced that it will be effective.
Question: The Sunday is rated as day of the family and of amateur football. Does it make sense to play three Bundesliga matches on Sundays?
Dr. Reinhard Rauball: Please allow me to point to the circumstances abroad. There are six different kick-off times in the Premier League alone, and four in Spain. The Italians have two matches on Saturday evening and on Sunday evening, too. They are very family-friendly, too, and still it became established there. Additionally UEFA Cup participants complained about too short regeneration times. That problem would have been hard to solve had we maintained the old model.
Question: Still some representatives of amateur clubs expressed a lack of understanding. is the ditch between amateur and professional football getting deeper?
Dr. Reinhard Rauball: We talked about this model in advance, with the President and the General Secretary of the DFB. The DFB are very cooperative on this point and leave the leading role to the league. We had meetings with amateur clubs. In doing so we received more approval than we had expected. Additionally only a third of all amateur matches is still being played on Sundays. Apart from that - and that's not widely known - the DFB, too, benefits from the league's media revenues with three per cent, because of the "Grundlagenvertrag" (basic contract).
Question: What do you say to the criticism at the early kick-off times in the 2. Bundesliga on Sundays (12:30)?
Dr. Reinhard Rauball: There wasn't a single critical voice when the DFL introduced the fixture schedule and the utilisation scenarios in an information meeting. The 2. Bundesliga has a few advantages from the new fixture schedule, after all. The Monday match remains untouched, there's an additional live match on Saturdays - and above all there won't be any overlapping with the top league, as is the case in other European countries.
Question: Commercial reasons played a major role in the new fixture schedule. Will this plan work out?
Dr. Reinhard Rauball: Marketing aspects played an important role, but not the only one - let's put it this way. We are convinced that the new fixture schedule and the utilisation scenarios are very attractive for interested media players. That's partly because of the new marketing model. Stations and infrastructure operators such as cable providers can now buy a fully produced programme without huge investments beforehand. Additionally companies that can't afford the whole package get the chance to apply for attractive individual packages like the Saturday evening match, for example. With this we create competition - just as the Federal Cartel Office demands. We have already received 200 expressions of interest.
Question: But you already think about additional proceeds possibilities such as commercial exploitation of the league name...
Dr. Reinhard Rauball: So far we have been extraordinarily conservative in principle in Germany. We neither have a league sponsor nor a uniform league ball. At the same time we have the lowest entrance fees of all European top leagues and the most modern stadium infrastructure. This being the case, it is my opinion that we have the most conservative system in Europe. It has nothing to do with greed for money if we carefully catch up on developments that are already common practice in other countries.
Question: How confident are you that the Federal Cartel Office will agree to the central marketing?
Dr. Reinhard Rauball: We are in a silent dialogue with the Cartel Office. 16 out of 19 countries in Europe have the central marketing. Two more think about introducing it. The European Parliament have radiated extremely positive signals two weeks ago. All that puts us in a confident mood that we get a solution that's good for our clubs.
Question: What happens if the Cartel Office decides otherwise? Is there a plan B?
Dr. Reinhard Rauball: You may be certain that League Association and DFL always have alternative considerations for all important issues, not only on the matter of marketing. Even if those never become important. But we're still absolutely convinced that we don't end up in a dead-end street and will be able to put our innovative marketing concept into practice. There are no clues for anything else.
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