Off The Pitch’s Post

⚽️ Morning Snapshot 👔 Newcastle United Football Club have named Paul Mitchell as their new sporting director. 👔 TSG Hoffenheim Fußball-Spielbetriebs GmbH have appointed Markus Schütz as the chairman of their management board. 👔 Borussia VfL 1900 Mönchengladbach GmbH and sports director Nils Schmadtke have mutually agreed to part ways. 👔 Kristian Baumgärtner is resigning as president of TSG Hoffenheim Fußball-Spielbetriebs GmbH due to health concerns. 🤝 Juventus Football Club and WTW have extended their partnership until 2029. 🤝 AS Monaco and APM Monaco have agreed to extend their collaboration for an additional two seasons. 🤝 Real Betis Balompié have secured a sponsorship deal with Trainline until 2026. 🤝 Hertha BSC GmbH & Co. KGaA have unveiled WTG as their new sleeve partner. 🤝 Udinese Calcio have introduced Banca 360 fvg as their new co-sponsor. 🤝 Watford Football Club have partnered with The University of Hertfordshire, which will feature on the sleeves of their official kit for the 2024/25 season, while ASUS will be displayed on the back of the club’s shorts. 🤝 RSC Anderlecht have signed a four-season partnership with Napoleon Sports & Casino, making them the club’s sleeve sponsor. 🤝 Millwall Football Club have announced MyGuava as their new front-of-shirt sponsor on a long-term deal. 🤝 C.A. Osasuna have entered into a sponsorship agreement with Toyota Tauro Motor and Lexus Pamplona for the next three seasons. #Partnership #Broadcasting #SportsBusiness #Commercial #Sponsorship #Football #SportsBiz #Finance #People #Data #Tech #Intelligence #Investment

As we kick off the 50th season of the 2. Bundesliga, there's a lot for the football business community to get excited about. Clubs like Hertha BSC (Olympiastadion, 74,649), Schalke 04 (Veltins Arena, 62,271), and Hamburger SV (Volksparkstadion, 57,000) regularly draw over 40,000 fans, which is pretty incredible for a second division. With nine former German champions like Fortuna Düsseldorf, 1. FC Nürnberg, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FC Köln, and Hannover 96, the league is a thrilling mix of competitive spirit and rich traditions. What’s truly fascinating is that this level of brand presence and attendance is quite unusual for a second-tier league. The 2. Bundesliga’s average attendance last season was ahead of Spain’s La Liga, with figures around 29,189, reflecting Germany's unique fan-first football culture. The league’s affordable ticket prices and strong local club connections help maintain this extraordinary support. This lively atmosphere offers fantastic opportunities for brands to connect with loyal fans and gain significant exposure. The presence of these historic clubs guarantees not only exciting matches but also strong commercial potential. By partnering with these teams, brands can tap into their large, dedicated followings and long-standing heritage, boosting brand recognition and loyalty. With attendance numbers that can rival top-tier leagues, the 2. Bundesliga is a standout platform for creative marketing efforts. The blend of historic legacies, passionate fans, and substantial viewership makes this league an intriguing prospect for anyone in the football business. #2Bundesliga #FootballBusiness #Sponsorship #SportsMarketing #GermanFootball #BrandOpportunities #Bundesliga2 #HerthaBSC #Schalke04 #HamburgerSV #FortunaDüsseldorf #1FCNürnberg #1FCKaiserslautern #1FCCöln #Hannover96 #HistoricClubs #StrategicPartnerships #FootballMarketing #Attendance #FanEngagement

Hans-Joachim Watzke: The architect behind Borussia Dortmund's remarkable journey Discover how Hans-Joachim Watzke transformed Borussia Dortmund from the brink of bankruptcy to a footballing powerhouse, epitomizing resilience and strategic genius in the world of sports. 1: What were the pivotal moments under Watzke's leadership at Dortmund? Hans-Joachim Watzke's tenure at Dortmund is marked by critical milestones, notably rescuing the club from near bankruptcy in 2005 and leading them to Bundesliga glory by 2011. His era also saw Dortmund win multiple domestic titles and reach the UEFA Champions League final in 2013. 2: How did Watzke maintain Dortmund's authenticity in an evolving football landscape? Balancing commercial success with the club's traditional values, Watzke ensured Dortmund stayed true to football’s origins. They prioritized affordable ticket prices, sustainable financial practices, and a strong connection with the community, all while competing at the highest level. 3: What challenges did Watzke face with Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga? Despite their successes, Dortmund consistently found themselves in the shadow of FC Bayern München's financial and footballing might. Watzke navigated this rivalry by focusing on smart investments and nurturing talent, though Bayern's dominance remained a significant challenge. 4: What legacy does Watzke leave behind, and what's next for him? Watzke leaves a legacy of financial stability, sporting success, and a deep connection with fans. Post-retirement, he is poised to influence German football on a global scale, with roles in the DFB, DFL, and UEFA, potentially following in the footsteps of football greats like Franz Beckenbauer. 💡 Learn More: For a deeper dive into Hans-Joachim Watzke’s transformative impact on Borussia Dortmund and his potential future influence in world football, explore the comprehensive analysis of his journey. Understand how his strategic vision and dedication redefined a football club and left an indelible mark on the sport. #SportsBusiness #Football #SportsBiz #Finance #People #Intelligence

🏟️ Behind the Introduction of Pitchside Seats at AC Milan’s San Siro Stadium 🌟 Last April, AC Milan added a layer of exclusivity to their matchday experience by introducing 14 pitchside seats between the home and visiting sides' dugouts. This move, dubbed the “Club 1899 Front Row Experience,” offers fans a unique close-up view of the action at San Siro Stadium, one of Europe's most iconic football grounds. 🏟️ These seats, inspired by the NBA’s courtside seats, allow fans to sit just above the stairs connecting the locker room with the field, close enough to hear coaches and potentially high-five players. 🏀⚽ 💼 Marketing and Promotion Effects: • Attract media attention and generate hype. • Add value for current and future sponsors and partners. • Initially allocated to celebrities and club partners, but will soon be available for purchase by die-hard fans. 📊 North American Fanbase: AC Milan’s North American fanbase has grown significantly, with the club ranking as the most popular Serie A brand in the U.S. Recent efforts include: • Ramping up global fan initiatives since 2018 under Elliott Management. • Continued focus under RedBird Capital Partners, with preseason camps in the U.S. strengthening the connection. 🎟️ Ticket Sales: Last season, 12% of AC Milan’s tickets were sold to U.S. fans, the highest share outside Italy. AC Milan finished second in Serie A last season and secured a UEFA Champions League spot. With major changes ahead, including a new manager and potential signings, the club remains focused on maintaining financial discipline and achieving self-sustainability. ⚽💼 📸: Club 1899 Front Row Experience / AC Milan #ACMilan #SanSiro #Football #SportsBusiness #StadiumExperience #PitchsideSeats #SerieA #Marketing #FanEngagement #FootballInnovation

👏 Congratulations to Borussia Dortmund for reaching the Champions League final 👏 A brief analysis of the Club. ✅ Record Departures ☑ O. Dembélé: €135m (signed for: €35m) ☑ J. Bellingham: €103m (€30m) ☑ J. Sancho: €85m (€21m) ☑ C. Pulisic: €64m (free) ☑ Aubemeyang: €63.75m (€13m) ☑ Halland: €60m (€20m) ❗Tot for 6 players: ▪ OUT: €119m (bonuses not included) ▪ IN: €511m ✅ Transfer Balance last 3 years 23/24 €47.85m 22/23 €-22.60m 21/22 €64.50m ❗ Tot: €89.75m ✅ Financial Results 22/23 ☑ Net profit €9.55m in 22/23 (vs. € -31.89m 21/22) ☑ Consolidated revenue €418m (a record without player trading) ✅ Club’s Strategy 👉 Signing young talent at relatively cheap prices and selling them for big profits. The house specialty: to turn promising young players into world stars. ✅ Positive talent loop -> Develop young talent -> Stars -> Young talents choose B. Dortmund -> Successful player trading ✅ Values vs. Growth ❓ Is it possible to make money while staying true to your values? ✔ The Challenge: balancing authenticity with commercialization. 👉 Borussia Dortmund has never lost sight of its role as a football institution. It's about: finding opportunities for evolution while retaining the club’s character. ❓ The strength of the club? 190'000 members and 55'000 season ticket holders. ✅ Stadium SIGNAL IDUNA PARK: almost always sold out. 👉 Opportunities: ✔ digitalization ✔ the new Champions League format (more games) ✔ women's football ❌ Make tickets more expensive -> not an option ✅ Commercial ☑ Sponsors like Dortmund ❓ Why? ✔ Consistent performances on the pitch ✔ huge fanbase ✔ Authenticity Plus: ▶ The ‘Yellow Wall’ is an iconic symbol of German football. ❗️Unique selling point of the club: 🔺 stadium 🔺 fans 🔺 emotion 🔺 passion ☑ The Numbers: ▪ Sponsorship agreements with 48 brands (in the 2022/23 season). ▪ Top single investment: PUMA Group with $34.61m/year ▪ Top 5 partners: make 70% of the club’s total income from sponsorship (hello Pareto 80/20!) ▪ The retail industry is the most represented: 6 agreements ☑ Goal: To grow internationally. 🇺🇸 Above all in the USA. ✅ Final Thoughts What words could define Borussia Dortmund’s success? 1️⃣ Clarity Knowing where you want to go and why. 👉 Knowing how to communicate this to fans, players, and partners is important. 2️⃣ Self-Awareness Know what your strengths are and what are the non-negotiable of your strategy. It's also knowing how you operate. ❓ What’s in your DNA? 3️⃣ Conviction The club has no doubts about what to do. Continued investment in the best talents in the world shows that the club believes in its strategy. ❗ I believe Borussia Dortmund is a blueprint to study for many clubs. ❓ Which clubs have a similar strategy? Enjoy it and ♻️ share if you like it! See you on June 1st. #footballbusiness #strategy #germany data: BVB, Sportspromedia, football finance, sportful, GlobalData, transfermarkt

Red Bull isn’t just an energy drink: 👉 It's taking over football. From Austria to Brazil, and even Japan, the brand is building a global empire. Curious how a soft drink company became one of football's most powerful forces? ✅ The clubs ☑ FC Red Bull Salzburg Acquired in 2005. 👉 the most nostalgic fans of the old club founded a new club: Sportverein Austria Salzburg which plays in the Austrian 3rd division. RB Salzburg is the team where Erling Haaland, Szoboszlai, Mané, Adeyemi, Upamecano o, and Benjamin Sesko exploded. ☑ RB Leipzig Investment started in 2009. Four promotions in the first seven years. Red Bull bought SSV Markranstädt, a team then playing in the national fifth division. It soon became RB Leipzig. ☑ FC Liefering Acquired from RedBull in 2012. Formerly Turn- und Sportunion Anif, based in the city of Anif. RB moved the club to Liefering in Salzburg. 👉 Szoboszlai, Adeyemi, and Upamecano themselves passed through here. ☑ New York Red Bulls Red Bull invested in MLS in 2006. They acquired the former club New York/New Jersey MetroStar. Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez, Juninho Pernambucano...many top names played in New York. ☑ Red Bull Bragantino Purchased in 2019: immediate promotion from B to Brasileiro Série A. ☑ Omiya Ardija Japanese third-division team based in Saitama. Acquired in 2024. ☑ Paris FC An interesting potential partnership: Louis Vuitton x Red Bull Confirmation of the Arnault family's investment in Paris FC together with Red Bull is awaited. Will Paris soon have a luxury derby? ✅ Final Thoughts As the sport continues to globalize and grow over the next decade, Red Bull's presence and partnerships will likely play an even bigger role. ❗ Football's future is bright, and Red Bull is ready to fuel its rise. ❓ Which other company will follow this strategy? #footballbusiness #strategy #investment

⚽️ European football seasons are coming to an end... That means we'll see plenty of fans celebrating their team's success. ♾️ It's a moment in time that no one wants to see coming to an end. That's especially true for the teams that have not been rewarded with an excessive number of titles and successes in recent years. 🚀 It's also a great moment in time for clubs to leverage that momentum to build something long-term - maybe even based on Web3 technology. Obviously, classic memorabilia such as t-shirts, jerseys and scarves are a great tool to one create something that fans can attach their memories to and two drive revenue (short-term). 👎 However, it isn't accessible for all fans. It's physical, it costs money and it doesn't meet everybody's taste. Want a more scalable version of it? Just make it free and digital... It a great way to give back to fans. To offer them a gift and say "Thank You" for the support and the love they provide in good as well as bad times. 💒 Among other things, there are 3 nice little benefits: - Get first-party data, build D2F (direct-to-fan) connections or simply: GET TO KNOW MORE OF YOUR FANS (beyond the stadium --> 80+%) - Make money by monetising the above - Create a foundation for an expanded version of this activation Personally, I think ManCity is probably set to do just such an activation - as they did last year or with the Club World Cup (image) 🏁 But are you ready PSV, Club Brugge, RSC Anderlecht, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise SCRL, Royal Antwerp F.C., Olympique Lyonnais Groupe, PSG, Parma Calcio 1913, Inter Milan, Athletic Club, Atalanta B.C., Juventus Turin, Arsenal, Leicester City Football Club, Ipswich Town FC and all you that are still able to achieve something remarkable this season...?

Blueprint for success ✅

Borussia Dortmund's Victory Over Paris Saint-Germain: An (ECONOMIC) Symbol ⁉️ For several decades now, #economists have highlighted the existence of a strong correlation between the #economic #power of an organization or country and its #sporting #results (cf. BERNARD & BUSSE (2000 and 2004); JOHNSON & ALI (2002), Xun Bian (2005); ANDREFF (2001, 2006 and 2008); RATHKE & WOITEK 2007; ...). In #football, specifically, HOEHN, SZYMANSKI & al. (1999) and Wladimir Andreff (2017) demonstrate that "There is a strong correlational link between the #clubs' #budget and #sporting #results... The #economic oligopoly coincides with a kind of sporting oligopoly". The bigger a #club's #budget, the more likely it is to feature at the top of the #sporting rankings. From 2015 onwards, #economists refined the indicators of #economic power used. This allowed them to highlight the importance of qualitative factors, i.e. how that #money is used (cf. BLAIS-MORISSET, BOUCHER & FORTIN (2015 and 2017); De BOSSCHER, Van BOTTENBURG, SHIBLI, & WESTERBEEK (2015)). "Some countries #succeed better than others with the same #investment". We find the same phenomenon at the club level: 2 clubs with the same budget will succeed more or less well in #sporting dimension due to a different use of that budget. The #economic model and particular #financial #management of a club therefore plays a role that is far from negligible in the #sporting #success of that #club. Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund have very different #economic models and #financial #management. We can get an idea of this by cross-referencing data from 2 articles: -Patrice Bouvet & Christophe Lepetit "From Doping to Financial Doping" (2015) ➡ Since Paris Saint-Germain was taken over by the Qataris, the latter have used a "#financial #doping" #strategy to grow the club. -Walid Agrar & Ahlam Laroussi "#Financial Analysis of the Big Clubs in the 5 Major European Football #Leagues" ➡ Relatively high market capitalization ratio of Borussia Dortmund in relation to its net income (Price Earning Ratio of 16.66); the explanatory hypothesis being that it is the only #European #club listed on the stock exchange that shows positive net results. We then understand that there are 2 opposing #management #strategies: that of the excessive and uncontrolled spending of Paris Saint-Germain, and that of the optimal management of Borussia Dortmund. And guess what? It was the latter that prevailed yesterday. A coincidence? Tell me what you think of it in the comments. 😉

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club grosses €7m per game from new stadium. FC Internazionale Milano and AC Milan less than half. ✅ Old vs. New ☑ The old stadium White Hart Lane brought in about €1.3m per game on average. ☑ New stadium €7m in revenue per game net of non-football events such as boxing, NFL European games, and concerts. 👉 Bars and restaurants inside the stadium bring in €1.2m per game post-match. ✅ Non-football revenues Tottenham Hotspur Football Club's goal is to fill the stadium even when the Spurs are not playing. 🔹 NFL ▪ pays a fee to be hosted in the London stadium ▪ pays a % of the £ millions derived from food and drink (estimated to be three times as much as a single Spurs game) ▪ pays a % of merchandising 🔹 Other sports Rugby and boxing hold events in the Tottenham stadium. 🔹 Concerts Lady Gaga, Guns N' Roses, and Beyoncé are some artists who have performed at the stadium. ✅ Impact on the neighborhood According to a report by EY: ▪ 2021-2022: Tottenham contributed a gross value added of £344m to the tri-borough area and +3'700 jobs. ▪ With more events and more visitors expected, this figure is expected to increase to £585m contributed in the 2026-27 season. ✅ Tottenham vs. Italian clubs 🔺 Stadium receipts in 2022/23 ▪ FC Internazionale Milano €79m - avg. €2.8m ▪ AC Milan €73m - avg. €2.8m ▪ Juventus Football Club €61.5m - avg. €2.1m ✅ Thoughts A modern stadium brings many advantages: ✔ Revenue Generation ✔ Fan Experience ✔ Brand Image ✔ Community Engagement ✔ Competitive Advantage In addition to this more revenue enables clubs to compete at a high level in the rich European competitions. ❓ What is your favorite stadium? #footballbusiness #strategy #stadium Data: the athletic