Business in the Bundesliga

In business and in soccer, the numbers don't lie. And the Bundesliga, for the most part, can be proud of the numbers it's producing. One of the key figures is 41,904 – the average number of fans that attended Bundesliga matches last season. Sports analysts expect the size of the crowds will continue to grow this season as well.

In fact, the Bundesliga is the healthiest league in the world in terms of average match attendance. Not coincidentally, the Bundesliga was recently ranked along with France's Ligue 1 as Europe's most exciting competition in a study by Ernst and Young's sports business unit, Score Team.

"You can see that the Bundesliga is a more suspenseful league because in the last three years, we've had three different German champions," Arnd Hovemann, an author of the study, told Deutsche Welle.

"The distance between the top teams and the rest isn't as big. In comparison, FC Barcelona has already secured Spain's championship eight or nine match days before the season ends."

Newer stadiums a big draw

Another reason the Bundesliga draws so many fans is the typically positive game-day experience. The source of this phenomenon dates back to 2000, when soccer's world governing body FIFA named Germany as the host country for the 2006 World Cup. German organizers' efforts to improve fan safety and comfort triggered a demographic shift in Bundesliga crowds.

"You don't have to worry about hooliganism or a dangerous situation," Stefan Ludwig, a sports business expert at Deloitte Germany, told Deutsche Welle. "You have very good quality food and beverage services, and these are all factors which count, in particular for families, if you go to a football match."

Women are also becoming more of a presence in German soccer stadiums. Arnd Hovemann from Ernst and Young says that women now make up around a quarter of a typical match audience. That's a development other European leagues – Italy in particular – haven't been able to replicate.

"If you look at this in Italy, where they have the worst stadium infrastructure, certain stadiums don't even have women's restrooms," Hovemann said.

Bundesliga not bulletproof against financial crisis

Despite strong season ticket sales and a surge in popularity among new market segments, about half of the Bundesliga managers surveyed by Ernst and Young expect the league's financial situation to deteriorate this year.

Although a strong fan base means that teams' incomes from ticket sales, merchandise and media rights are relatively secure, managers are worried about a potential downturn in sponsorship deals.

Sponsors generally provide teams with about 25 percent of their revenue. But with the financial crisis forcing many German companies to cut costs, managers are likely to think twice about tying money up in the Bundesliga.

"All the sponsors are reviewing their marketing budgets," said Deloitte's Stefan Ludwig. "So there might be cuts in marketing budgets, which will also relate to sponsors. Therefore it might be difficult, in particular for smaller [teams], to generate the same amount as they had last year."

According to Hovemann, fans will have to wait a while to see how much the financial crisis will affect the Bundesliga. Given the league's strong fan base and generally conservative financial strategy, he thinks German soccer should fare well in the long run.

"The majority of managers predict a decrease in income this year," he said, "but over the next five years, a very large majority of managers expect an increase in income. The current situation is not surprising in light of the global economic crisis and should not hold the league back for long."

Author: Matt Zuvela
Editor: Sam Edmonds