Due to the consequences of the corona pandemic, the Bundesliga soccer club Borussia Dortmund reported a deficit of 72.8 million euros on Monday in the 2020/21 financial year. The total group turnover fell compared to the previous year from 486.9 to 358.6 million euros.
“While last year’s sales were only reduced by four months of Corona, we now had to live with the pandemic for an entire financial year. Therefore, in terms of sales, it is an extraordinarily good result and a sign of Borussia Dortmund’s strength,” concluded Hans-Joachim Watzke in his role as chairman of the BVB management.
The transfer of England international Jadon Sancho to Manchester United on July 23, 2021 has not yet been taken into account in the balance sheet. Overall, the gross transfer fees are € 24.4 million, with a decrease of € 92.3 million, far below the previous year’s level (€ 116.7 million).
The biggest factor for the drop in sales was the ghost games and the limited admission options for viewers due to the pandemic. Instead of 1.8 million in the 2018/19 season, only 21,100 visitors were admitted to three home games in the 2020/21 financial year.
That corresponds to a loss of almost 99 percent, which has a massive impact on sales in ticketing. Revenues fell from 44.7 million euros in the 2018/19 financial year to 500,000 euros in 2020/2021.
The 62-year-old Watzke spoke of an “extremely exciting task to lead the company through a crisis that this time was not self-inflicted”. He called on all supporters to get vaccinated, this was the key to everything, said Watzke.
He also appealed to politicians: “Now is the time to make courageous decisions. You can no longer solve everything by locking the shop.”
Watzke: “The key to everything is vaccination”
Watzke also calls for a higher utilization limit. “I think that the key to everything is vaccination. It’s a lot safer than testing, I’m a friend of 2G. But some can’t get vaccinated. I don’t see a sold-out house right now, but we are looking at the increasing vaccination rate the way to higher audience numbers without wanting to overdo it. “
Watzke appealed again: “We have to free ourselves from panic.” The relation between media announcement and reality is wrong. “That affects the entire event industry. It’s about quality of life, that’s what I expect from the state after the vaccination,” said the BVB boss.
According to BVB, revenues from advertising and TV marketing have developed positively compared to the previous year despite massive restrictions caused by the pandemic. This is primarily due to new sponsorship contracts from July 1, 2020.
“Borussia Dortmund is a brand that is worth advertising with,” emphasized Managing Director Thomas Treß. With regard to equity, which amounted to 232.6 million euros as of June 30, 2021, he said: “We are robustly positioned.”
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