German football bows to fan revolt and rejects $1 billion investment

German football fans had thrown everything they could at the problem, often in a quite literal sense: at various times in recent weeks they protested the specter of a private equity giant taking a stake in the country's domestic league by to rain tennis balls. chocolate coins and even marbles in fields across the country.

The demonstrations forced the postponement of the games, embarrassed authorities and may have helped convince one of the world's largest financial companies not to strike a deal. But it was thanks to an escalation of technology that the final victory was secured: Remote-controlled cars were once usedbelching smoke and disrupting yet another game, the league relented.

The end came in an emergency board meeting, where the league's clubs voted to halt talks with CVC Capital Partners, a Luxembourg-registered private equity firm, over a deal that would have given teams a $1 billion cash injection in exchange for a portion of the league's broadcast revenue over the next twenty years.

“Given current developments, a successful continuation of the process no longer seems possible,” Hans-Joachim Watzke, chairman of the league's supervisory board, said on Wednesday.

The vote was a comprehensive – if increasingly rare – victory for fans' interests at a time when the sport has proven unable to resist the overtures of deep-pocketed investors. That the supporters of several dozen German football clubs seemed to have won the battle through a mixture of anger and humor somehow made their victory even more remarkable.

CVC Partners has signed agreements similar to the German proposal with a number of teams and leagues in recent years. The company already has interests in it La Ligathe elite football league in Spain, and League 1its equivalent in France, as well the WTA tour and the prestigious Six Nations Rugby League.

The DFL, the body that oversees German football's two top divisions, had originally voted in December to follow suit, narrowly backing a motion that would allow the league to explore a “strategic partnership” with CVC or Blackstone, one of the largest players in the world. largest private equity funds. Black stone withdrew from the trial earlier this month, leaving CVC as the only contender.

The turning point for the proposed German investment, most agreed, came on Sunday, when two remote-controlled cars were unleashed during a second division match between Hansa Rostock and Hamburg. They each had a smoke bomb on their back that spewed blue and white fumes into the air. The race was stopped for several minutes while stewards attempted to chase the cars.

By then, the protests and subsequent furor were calling into question “the matchday operations, the matches themselves and the integrity of the competition,” Mr Watzke said.

The prospect of even indirect private investment in a league where clubs must, by law, be majority controlled by fans has proven to be a toxic prospect.

The protests broke out almost immediately after news of the league's intention to make a deal became public in December, and as fans made it clear they did not want to follow the path set by the English Premier League, where clubs are bought and sold by oil companies. magnates, venture capitalists and nation states.

Some games started against a backdrop of eerie silence as fans held back their cheers. Others saw banners outlining the fans' position, often in explicit terms, unfurled in the stands. Various objects were thrown onto the fields to interrupt the game.

Thomas Kessen, spokesman for Unsere Kurve, an umbrella group that advocates for fans, described the protests as “comprehensive, creative and peaceful.”

Ultimately, the protests proved so frequent and so intense that the DFL had little choice but to back down.

“For all active football fans and all members of the clubs, this is a great success, which shows that German football is membership-based and democratic,” said Mr Kessen. “It is precisely these members who must be involved in such groundbreaking decisions.”

Melissa Eddy contributed reporting.