“FC Bayern again.” After the tenth championship in a row, soccer Germany is bored. t-online makes five suggestions as to how the league can become more exciting and attractive again.
Note: This text was written and published in a similar form in July 2020. The editor stands for the topicality of the content with his name.
Since 2013, the champions in the Bundesliga have been FC Bayern Munich. Also this season the Nagelsmann-Elf was crowned as the title holder and made the championship already on the 31st match day in a direct duel with Borussia Dortmund.
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Bayern win and win, they have the highest budget, the greatest financial resources and, accordingly, the best players. The thought solidified: Bayern must goof, Dortmund, Leipzig or Leverkusen must have a perfect season – otherwise the record champions cannot be deprived of the permanent subscription to the title.
But there are also external factors that could lead to more excitement coming back into the Bundesliga – and the league becoming more attractive in general. t-online.de presents five ideas on how the first German soccer league could become more attractive again.
Idea 1: FC Bayern has to leave the league
As already described above, FC Bayern is the measure of all things. A radical change could therefore be that the record champions, who are already in completely different spheres than the competition, are no longer allowed to play in the future.
The vision of a “super league” with the best teams in Europe has been haunting the area for years. Even if Bayern’s former CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Dortmund’s managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke dismissed such plans, a farewell to one or both teams is not a utopian scenario.
Bayern’s Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (right) and Dortmund’s Hans-Joachim Watzke in January 2017 at the “Spobis” sports business congress in Düsseldorf. Both spoke out, at least publicly, against a Super League. (Source: Norbert Schmidt/imago images)
Because if world clubs like Manchester City, FC Barcelona, Juventus Turin or Paris Saint Germain join forces to form such a community, Bayern would have to follow suit in order to remain internationally competitive – provided they want to keep accessing the big money pots. The Super League, a model for the super-rich of the top international leagues.
From now on, Bayern or BVB would no longer play in the national league, so the title holder would be someone else. The problem: In the long run, a new “dominator” would emerge, for example Leipzig, which has a financially strong backer in Red Bull. So it wouldn’t be that easy. A second change would have to follow.
Idea 2: Distribute TV money more fairly
A fairer distribution of TV money. That would prevent a second Bayern Munich from forming. Because one thing is certain: as long as the funds in the Champions League and for the top places in the Bundesliga are distributed so unequally, a halfway fair competition is hardly representable.
While champion Bayern Munich takes in the most money with around 90.02 million euros in 2021/2022, promoted Greuther Fürth only collects 27.48 million – almost 69% less than the league croesus. If you extrapolate the amount for a TV rights period (four years), a gap in the three-digit million range quickly arises. And that doesn’t even include income from sponsors and the Champions League.
A more even distribution would make the starting conditions easier – and at least mitigate a further drifting apart between “poor and rich” in the league.
Idea 3: Introduce a salary cap
The so-called “salary cap”, an upper salary limit, determines the maximum amount that a team can spend on its squad per season. This procedure is already used in the major US leagues such as the NBA and the NFL.
A modified version of the salary cap has been discussed in football in recent years. Not the team, but the individual player salary should be limited. Such a regulation would, for example, prevent the best players from automatically switching to FC Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund because they can pay the highest salaries. Exceeding this limit would result in corresponding penalties.
The problem: All Bundesliga clubs would have to move along and adapt this model so that a balanced salary structure would come about. An unlikely and therefore unrealistic scenario.
Idea 4: Playoffs for the title
They are already routine in basketball, less common in football: play-offs for the title. The advantage: Even if a possible series winner like Bayern Munich secures first place after 34 match days, they still have to prevail in direct duels against the competition.
After the end of the season, the DFL could organize a “Final Four” with the best four teams, the new DFL boss put the topic on the table himself in an interview with the world on Sunday. The championship final could then be held at a neutral location, similar to the DFB Cup final. The advantage: suspense until the end. The disadvantage: the league itself would be devalued. Also, playoffs would only address the symptoms of an ailing system, not the problem
Idea 5: Change relegation
An aspect that does not affect the championship but the relegation battle. Since the 2008/2009 season, the 16th in the Bundesliga has been fighting for a place in the upper house in a duel with the 3rd in the second division. The record for the second division is sobering.
In twelve years, the Bundesliga team has won nine times, only three times (2009 Nuremberg, 2012 Düsseldorf, 2019 Union Berlin) the second division team was ahead by a nose. The last win of a second division team even dates back to May 2012, when Fortuna Düsseldorf won at Hertha BSC.
The abolition of relegation would strengthen the second division, guarantee three promoted teams and thus ensure more fluctuation in the Bundesliga. It would also be conceivable to let the 16th in the Bundesliga compete in a direct duel against the 15th, the 3rd in the second division would be promoted directly.
This would strengthen supposedly weaker teams from the second Bundesliga and the relegation battle in the Bundesliga would be even more exciting, since the 15th would also have something to lose. The risk of distortion of competition at the end of a season would also decrease.
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