Was football not supposed to be for the fans at some point in time? Everything is becoming more and more expensive in the modern day, with football being no exception. The costs of transfers, wages and agents goes up- so the revenue most go up as well. Even clubs at the very top of European football, such as Bayern Munich, have had to find ways to optimize the use of their finances and draw out as much money from as many sources as possible. After all, a club like Bayern is bound to adhere to the 50+1
rule, which requires Bayern Munich eV to own at least 51% of the club rather than sell all available stocks to investors.
This topic was brought up to Bayern’s honorary president, Uli Hoeneß, by German news site Frankfurter Allgemeine, with the interviewer suggesting selling more of the club’s capital. Bayern Munich eV currently owns 75% of the club, which means 24% could still be invested elsewhere. But Hoeneß does not agree with this course of action.
“No. I’ve always seen things a bit differently, but I haven’t actively pushed for it. So far, we can still finance our operations from our own resources,” Hoeneß noted (as captured by @iMiaSanMia) before realizing any interviewer’s dream by expanding on the topic without any prompting. “I see big potential if TV revenues in Germany were higher. Look at the [English] Premier League: Liverpool or Manchester City get €350 million for the domestic TV rights. And even a club like [2024-25 season’s 16th placed EPL team] Wolverhampton gets €130 million. We get €80 million. I see potential there, even if I don’t know yet how we can change that. I believe that if Amazon and the like were to really get involved, that could change. For them, it would be pocket change. Furthermore, I still see room for improvement in marketing, even though we’re already among the top three in Europe.”
Despite the considerations, Hoeneß knows what he will reject as simply out of hand. “But do you want me to tell you what I’m against? I’m against an increase in ticket prices. I completely reject what FIFA is currently doing with the prices for the World Cup in the USA. It has nothing to do with the football business as I imagine it. The World Cup final must not become like the Super Bowl. I recently met someone who was at the Super Bowl. He was invited to a billionaire’s box. The box cost $1.5 million for that one day. For 20 people. That’s $75,000 per person. Some of them didn’t even watch the game. And the main attraction, of course, was the halftime show.”
To clarify just how expensive the tickets at the 2026 World Cup are, let us look at some raw numbers. The Guardian captures the most jaw dropping numbers of them all: FIFA prices some of the best seats at the final of the World Cup at around $33,000 (up a fair bit from the $1,600 of the last edition of the World Cup), the cheapest tickets initially cost around $1,200 and the official FIFA Resale/Exchange Marketplace has seen prices go up to prices as eye gouging as ELEVEN AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS.
@iMiaSanMia also captured Hoeneß clarifying that he does not want Bayern going down that same road: “We have season tickets for 175 euros. I’m very proud of that. I don’t want fans who don’t have such high incomes to be unable to afford them. Football belongs to them too, or especially to them. It can’t be that they can only afford to go to a football match if they cut back on food or holidays. Going to a football match must always be possible for everyone.”
FIFA does not even need to raise the prices so high. They simply realize that this is their main cash cow and want to milk it as much as possible, sanity be damned. As long as Hoeneß is around at Bayern, though, that will not happen to Bayern fans.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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