The question of how to bridge the financial gap to other top leagues, most notably the English Premier League, is a very pressing issue for football in Germany. The Deutsche Fußball Liga, or DFL for short, constantly discuss many options and consider what measures they can reasonably take to boost their funding. Eliminating the 50+1 rule is the easiest path to greater investment, but it comes with a loss of identity for German football that is deemed simply unacceptable.
Another method of funding deemed unacceptable by the DFL is accepting a name sponsor. Other top leagues across world football, such as the La Liga EA Sports, Ligue 1 McDonald’s and Serie A Enilive, have chosen to garner additional funding this way. But the DFL have confirmed (as captured by @iMiaSanMia) that this is not an option for Germany football:
The DFL has ruled out the introduction of a name sponsor for the Bundesliga such as is the case in other top leagues. “All options in every direction are being discussed. But no, that wasn’t an option for us”, said DFL director Marc Lenz.
It is worth noting that La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A earn between €20-€30 million per year from these sponsorships, as reported by sources here, here and here respectively. Is that amount of money worth changing the Bundesliga’s name?
The English Premier League, being the league everyone is trying to catch, have also foregone a name sponsor for a decade now. The league did long carry a name sponsor, becoming known as the Barclays Premier League, but their deal with Barclays ended in 2016 and they have not had another since. Clearly, a name sponsor is not what propelled the Premier League to the incredible financial advantages it currently enjoys.
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