The numbers behind Borussia Dortmund’s transfer strategy – and how they compare to the rest of Europe
By Sean Findlay
The Breakdown – Where does the money come from?
Broadcasting – Revenue
If you only recently started following European football, you might have been surprised when Nottingham Forest spent a cool $180m on new players this season – after just being promoted to the Premier League. If you’ve been around for a while – especially as a Bundesliga fan – you have probably heard some German Sporting Director, CEO or coach complain about the financial advantages lucrative TV deals have handed to the British clubs.
So, you might be wondering why Dortmund is relatively close to the North London duo of Arsenal and Tottenham. But you have to keep in mind that BVB netted its $157m while playing in the Champions League, unlike the clubs of the British capital who only qualified for the Europa League and Conference League.
La Liga has a pretty similarly sized broadcasting deal compared to the Bundesliga (both in the neighbourhood of $1.3b anually), the Spanish league is distributing the money less evenly. On top of that, Real Madrid ($334.5m) just like Bayern Munich ($224.8m) are profiting from a better Champions League performance.
PSG
and the rest of the
Ligue 1
are still reeling from the
Mediapro
collapse in 2020, leaving the Parisian side with only $151m in TV revenue, despite reaching the Champions League knockout stage – unlike Dortmund.
Commercial Revenue
This is an area where German clubs have generally done really well. Profiting from a relatively strong and stable economy compared to Italy, Spain and France. Traditionally, companies in Germany like to support their local clubs. Borussia Dortmund’s partners are evidence of that: Evonik, Brinkhoff’s, Wilo and Signal Iduna are all headquartered in Dortmund or in the surrounding area (Evonik in nearby Essen). Puma, 1&1 and most of the other important partners are based in Germany as well.
The same – on an even higher level – is true for Bayern Munich ($410.5m). The Bavarians rank second in this category only behind Paris Saint-Germain ($415.9m).
However, BVB at $189.0m is fairly close to teams like Tottenham, Chelsea and even ahead of Arsenal.
Matchday Revenue
You might have heard of English football fans traveling from London to Dortmund, watching a BVB match while enjoying a beer and a Currywurst and then returning to the British capital the same day. And all of that for less than a ticket at Chelsea. I’m not too sure if that math always works out, but if you take a look at the matchday income of the two clubs – it might be possible.
Despite the 81,365 capacity of the Westfalenstadion, Borussia Dortmund is finishing dead last in this category with a mere $41.2m. Less than half of Chelsea’s $89.0m. And well short of the top three: Paris Saint-Germain ($143.2m), Manchester United ($136.7m) and Tottenham ($135.66m).
This is partly due to the age of the stadium and the low number of VIP seats, but mostly this is down to the German belief that football should be affordable to anyone. Even Bayern with their relatively new and big arena only makes $73.8m per year. This is unlikely to change anytime soon as German fans don’t see themselves as customers of the club but rather as partners, almost owners. As they should.