“Unterhachinger Stadium to Host Joint Usage Concept for Football and American Football Teams in the 2023/24 Season”

It doesn’t matter whether the ball is round or egg-shaped: Sports fans should be well entertained with both, at least this year in the Unterhachinger stadium. After long, sometimes tough negotiations, the municipality has agreed on a joint usage concept for the 2023/24 season with the responsible persons of the football club Spielvereinigung Unterhaching and the American football team “Munich Ravens”. This Friday, the parties involved signed the contracts in the Unterhachinger town hall.

This agreement was preceded by a great deal of uncertainty in the past few weeks, especially on the part of the game association and the municipal council. Hachinger Stadion GmbH, which is responsible for running the stadium of the fourth division football team, actually wants to buy the property as the previous tenant. However, the sales negotiations had stalled, and skepticism spread among local politicians as to whether the footballers could even afford the sports park after reports of financial bottlenecks in the game association. Uncertainty grew when rumors surfaced that the Ravens wanted to buy the stadium.

It all finally got too much for the local council and they terminated the lease agreement with the Spielvereinigung at the end of March. They did not want to throw the footballers out of the stadium, although the town hall was of the opinion that they had every reason to do so. Because Haching Sportpark GmbH had already concluded detailed contracts with the Ravens for the use of the municipal sports area, although they were neither the owner of the stadium nor could it simply be subleased without the consent of the municipality. The game association was a bit meek at the time, but assured them that they had expected the stadium deal to work out.

Because the municipal council, according to its own statements, does not want to be seen as the “gravedigger of the game association” and at the same time sees the football team’s home games in the “European League of Football” from June 4th as an opportunity to maintain or polish Unterhaching’s image as a sports community , everyone involved was brought to the table to reach an agreement that everyone can live with at least until the summer of 2024.

The new usage concept provides that Haching Sportpark GmbH will remain the lessee of the stadium. The contract, according to city hall spokesman Simon Hötzl “with almost unchanged conditions”, has a term of one year. This ensures that the SpVgg Unterhaching stadium is available for the licensing process for the coming season. The municipality has made a separate agreement with the Munich Ravens for their maximum of eight home games in the Unterhachinger Stadium. The concrete implementation of the American football games is regulated in a binding contract with all parties involved. Haching Sportpark GmbH, as the stadium leaseholder, should ensure that everything runs smoothly. The municipality will support both parties to the best of its ability, according to a statement from the town hall.

According to Hötzl, both the community and the game association benefit financially from the agreements with the footballers with this construct. “These are reasonable sums,” said the city hall spokesman. Of course, this deal does not yet plug the budget gaps, which is why negotiations on the sale of the stadium will continue this year. Because it is still clear that the municipality wants to get rid of the property, which is expensive to maintain. For this purpose, a commission of all parliamentary group leaders and the first mayor Wolfgang Panzer (SPD) is to be formed. “Of course, there are also negotiations with our local football club, but in principle everything is open,” says Hötzl, referring not only to the potential buyer but also to the extent of the area that is for sale. It will then be seen whether it will be the stadium, the sports park or even the “Sportpark plus”, says Hötzl.

Peter Wagstyl, vice-president of the game association, was relieved about the agreement: “When the Munich Ravens came to us about six months ago with the idea of ​​playing American football games here in the sports park, we were convinced from the start that that this will have added value for the community, the region and the game association,” he shares. Sebastian Stolz, General Manager of the Munich Ravens, is also satisfied: “American football is booming. We look forward to continuing to work closely with SpVgg and the community.”