German model

your my wife now!!!!

Am getting hitched myself next year.

With all clubs being 51% owned by fans, it prevents the scenario of oil rich Sheiks or Russian oligarchs trampling all over their club's history etc.

The Bundesliga also has low ticket prices, in some cases season tickets as low as £96.49 per season!!

This is what Bayern Munich fans pay for the cheapest seats!! The most expensive of the "cheap season" tickets is Borussia Dortmund at £176.11.................

Do you get the feeling we are being royally ripped off here?????????

Germany is bigger than England in population with less football clubs in it.

muffinboy........................................Germany is bigger than England in population with less football clubs in it.
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What on earth has that got to do with anything?

Surely having fewer clubs would increase demand & therefore ticket prices!?

comment by Cityblueloz City are still alive here, balote... (U6305) posted 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
your my wife now!!!!

Am getting hitched myself next year.
--------------------------
Trust me when I say, DON'T DO IT!

Surely having fewer clubs would increase demand & therefore ticket prices!?
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Having fewer clubs would increase to fill the stadiums too, hence there is no need for sugar daddy ..

I lived in Germany for a while and yes, it is cheaper to go and watch football there. There are other factors in play though that mean that it would be very difficult to copy their model. I think it was said earlier in the thread as well, but sometimes, you do have to be careful when you go to games, their hooligan element is still a lot more prevalent than it is here (more so, surprisingly, in Switzerland as well!).

I have always said that ultimately, we as fans have to take some responsibility for the increase in ticket prices. Attendances in the top flight have never been better since the move to all seater stadiums and Sky subscriptions increase year on year. Ultimately, it is supply and demand and there is absolutely no reason for clubs, or Sky, to drop their prices when they are still getting bums on seats.

On the wage cap side of things, that does need a lot of thinking through. Up until recently, the tax here was far greater than in some other countries so to attract the best players, English clubs had to pay more just to keep their take home pay the same. The biggest era for wage increases, in terms of the rate at which it rose, was the 90s and early 00s, before any "sugar daddy" club really came along apart from Blackburn. The additional money brought along from these rich owners is not the cause of high wages, it is a symptom of it. The money in football initially was the cause.

The other side is, where do people actually want the money to go? As long as we as fans are willing to pay out as much as we are (which is why the tv deals are so high in the first place), then if it doesn't go to the players, I can only see it going to the owners. Personally, when I go see a band or buy a cd, I would prefer the money to go to the people that actually play and write the songs rather than the record company.

I'm not saying it doesn't need to be considered, it absolutely does, it is just not as easy as just implementing a wage cap, it would need reform of Football in it's entirity.

For me, the only way to do that is if fans start voicing their disapproval through their own pockets and boycott Sky and going to games. As the demographic of your average match going football fan is slightly more affluent now than it used to be, I just can't see that happening on the level that it needs to to really make a difference.

Sorry, that ended up being longer than I thought it would!

I could understand a wage cap if it were linking to the clubs earnings which I think may already be in place. I have no problem with how much they earn though and I genuinely have no idea why someone would bar jelousy.

I'm not sure how Germany manage it though. Bayern have a couple of players on £150k p/w and yet charge about £20 per game.

It is a very different model, Hoody. Bayern's turnover is huge. One thing people seem to forget is that although they are around 80% supporter owned, Audi and Adidas both have stakes in them, and are both sponsers.

There is also the fact that the state pumps money in to football clubs, which just would not happen here. Numerous clubs in Germany were actually bailed out by their local councils, and they tend to pay for infrastructure improvements, which is why match day travel is subsidised.

As I said, it is far more complicated than people realise, but I can't imagine people would be happy if ticket prices were subsidised by raising council tax, which is basically what copying the the german model verbatim means!

meltonblue (U10617)

Thanks for the info.