ian1964 10,669 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 One of the men responsible for shaping the worldââ?¬â?¢s most successful football league has offered some advice to the SPL on its own day of destiny: less could mean more ââ?¬â?? both on and off the pitch. Holger Hieronymus has helped to make the Bundesliga the most-envied in the business with an 18-team set-up that does better box office than any on the planet. Yet, he firmly believes that the SPL could recover its long-lost European reputation by crunching its own numbers down to ten sides and could prompt a crowd boom like Germany by cutting admission prices for fans. The Bundesliga is the brand leader with a remarkable average crowd of 42,000. Full houses everywhere, the cheapest tickets, clubs who have debt under control, yet it still ensured that Germany were represented in last seasonââ?¬â?¢s Champions League final by Bayern Munich. Hieronymus knows what it takes to win the biggest honour in club football. He was part of the SV Hamburg side that won the European Cup in 1983 before injury propelled him into the business side of football and now he is deputy CEO of the DFL, the German league, which runs the Bundesliga. The 51-year-old recalls with clarity that Scotlandââ?¬â?¢s elite league produced teams that were among Europeââ?¬â?¢s best when he played when it had 10 teams, as Aberdeen and Dundee United emerged in the 1980s. ââ?¬Å?At Hamburg, we came up against Aberdeen a few times,ââ?¬Â Hieronymus said. ââ?¬Å?We knocked them out of the Uefa Cup when we got to the final in 1982, although we lost the first game in Aberdeen. They were a tough team and they won the Cup Winners Cup in 1983 and then they stopped us from winning the European Super Cup. ââ?¬Å?Yet that year they did not even the Scottish title. It was Dundee United, who, I remember, beat some of our top teams, like Werder Bremen and Borussia Moenchengladbach. That was obviously a good period for Scottish football. If Celtic and Rangers do not keep the success, it makes it more exciting. ââ?¬Å?I understand the problems Scotland faces because I used to speak a lot to my friend Lex Gold [the former SPL chief]. Football and money have to be balanced. If some people in Scotland want to go back to 16 or 18 teams, I would have to say that from the sporting aspect, the best way to improve the quality of your league is if the top teams are playing each other more often, than, for example, a weaker team in a bigger league. ââ?¬Å?You have to play on a special level domestically so you can compete when those teams reach European competition. Pressure is a good thing. The Bundesliga started with 16 teams and went to 20 but now we know 18 is the right number for us. Sometimes people say why donââ?¬â?¢t we copy England or Spain and expand but they have problems fitting in all the games when their teams are successful in Europe.ââ?¬Â The Bundesliga also has a winter-break, promotion-relegation play-off and Friday night football, three issues which were due to be up for debate by SPL clubs at Hampden today before it was called off due to severe weather. ââ?¬Å?We brought the play-offs in for 2008-09 between the third bottom team and the third best in Bundesliga 2,ââ?¬Â says Hieronymus. ââ?¬Å?The fans seem to like it because the games are a sellout.ââ?¬Â ââ?¬Ë?Sold outââ?¬â?¢ is a common message at Bundesliga grounds. Whether it is 80,000 watching leaders Borussia Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park or last-placed Moenchengladbach locking the doors with 50,000 inside, spectators cannot get enough of the product. The ticket prices are kept low by the clubs, and part of the reason for that is Germany still allows fans to stand. Hieronymus knows that sets off alarm bells in Britain ââ?¬â?? where all-seater stadia were created after the Heysel and Hillsborough Disasters ââ?¬â?? but offers some feedback, anyway. ââ?¬Å?The average ticket price in the Bundesliga is 20 euros,ââ?¬Â he says. ââ?¬Å?That is because all our stadia have special areas where fans can stand and it is very popular. The price there is maybe 13 euros. Those areas are very safe and so are our grounds. ââ?¬Å?That means the average price for the Bundesliga is probably cheaper than what people pay in Scotland and England. ââ?¬Å?I know that standing at football is a very political question in Britain. I know what happened in the past and that clubs from England were involved, not Scotland. I cannot say ââ?¬Ë?do thisââ?¬â?¢ because Britain is the way it is. ââ?¬Å?However, what I can say is that in Germany we have created an environment that really works. We have a lot of families at our games. The fans tell us they want to have standing areas and those supporters sing a lot and provide a great atmosphere. We even have people from England coming to watch lots of our games because they like much to such ââ?¬â?? and itââ?¬â?¢s cheaper.ââ?¬Â http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/more-scottish-football/bundesliga-reconstruction-could-be-the-inspiration-for-change-in-scottish-game-1.1075388 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,669 Posted December 20, 2010 Author Share Posted December 20, 2010 One thing about the Bundesliga is the price the fans pay,I'm convinced there are a lot of fans don't go to the game because of the prices we have to pay 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CumbernauldGers 0 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 One thing about the Bundesliga is the price the fans pay,I'm convinced there are a lot of fans don't go to the game because of the prices we have to pay Spot on mate. We have to wake up and realise that people just cant afford the prices now. SPL would defo get far higher attendances if they followed the Germans. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,669 Posted December 20, 2010 Author Share Posted December 20, 2010 Spot on mate. We have to wake up and realise that people just cant afford the prices now. SPL would defo get far higher attendances if they followed the Germans. I also love the idea of standing sections,but that is not even up for debate in this country 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Ally 0 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Looking at the Bundesliga a bit more and you will see why this is. Far superior tv deal, far superior commercial deals etc etc. There was a piece in one of the broadsheets maybe a month or two ago. The reason so many fans can pay so little at a club like Bayern is because they have fans who pay several thousands of pounds a year (for some reason 7000 sticks in my mind but could well be very wrong)for a season ticket with a few benefits (a bit like hospitality I think). It is too facile to say, look how cheap tickets in the Bundesliga are, without trying to find out why they are priced as such and how the clubs are able to achieve this. We complain we are not competitive and that we do not invest enough in the playing squad, but reducing the income of the club is going to exacerbate that problem, not improve it. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,669 Posted December 20, 2010 Author Share Posted December 20, 2010 Looking at the Bundesliga a bit more and you will see why this is. Far superior tv deal, far superior commercial deals etc etc. There was a piece in one of the broadsheets maybe a month or two ago. The reason so many fans can pay so little at a club like Bayern is because they have fans who pay several thousands of pounds a year (for some reason 7000 sticks in my mind but could well be very wrong)for a season ticket with a few benefits (a bit like hospitality I think). It is too facile to say, look how cheap tickets in the Bundesliga are, without trying to find out why they are priced as such and how the clubs are able to achieve this. We complain we are not competitive and that we do not invest enough in the playing squad, but reducing the income of the club is going to exacerbate that problem, not improve it. Very true,but I thought that is what is going to happen with the up coming discussions,to look how the SPL can be improved. We may not be able to reduce ticket prices,but the fact remains that a lot of fans won't pay that amount of money to watch a poor standard of football,but it must be looked at all the same 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 The reason so many fans can pay so little at a club like Bayern is because they have fans who pay several thousands of pounds a year (for some reason 7000 sticks in my mind but could well be very wrong)for a season ticket with a few benefits (a bit like hospitality I think). As well as a serious TV deal, Bayern have the 2nd biggest shirt sponsorship deal in Europe that puts 23 million per year in their bank account. As far as shirt sponsorship deals go, it's second only to Barcelona's new Qatar deal worth 25 million a year for 5 years and a few million a year more than Man U's or Real's deals. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,513 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 But how much does a loaf of bread cost in Germany? :fish: 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Touch�© Fat Cat! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Ally 0 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Btw i'm not saying some sort of reduction in prices may not be something to look at. But as a few of you have noted, you cant just say look a ticket is 10 euros in Germany we should do the same without looking at all the other associated factors. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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