The chief executive of the Bundesliga, Christian Seifert, says there would be “a huge shitstorm” if the clubs of the league were to start charging as much for tickets as Premier League sides.

Seifert said the Bundesliga has had no influence on clubs reducing their ticket prices. Clubs have taken this on voluntarily, thus gaining less ticket revenue in order to preserve the relationships with their fans, keep the impressive atmospheres in stadiums and continue the growth of the German game.

Seifert says that allowing as many people as possible to go to stadiums, at any age or from any social background, is a hallmark for German clubs, describing it as both a social responsibility and a business tactic comparable to that of budget supermarket Aldi. 

The average Bundesliga ticket price is €23 and the league enjoys a 92% stadium occupancy rate; its average attendance of 43,500 is the highest of any football league in the world, almost 9,000 more than the Premier League’s last season.

“Bayern Munich gets each year 30 to 40 million euros less than Manchester United from ticket sales, which means €300m in 10 years. We [the Bundesliga] don’t have influence on ticket prices. All the clubs can decide on their own but some kind of common sense prevails. Every year in magazines you see double pages about the prices of tickets, bratwurst and beer, etc and everyone gets in a huge shitstorm if the price of bratwurst goes up by 10 cents. The concept of Aldi was invented in Germany: very cheap but a lot.”

As well as persisting with these low ticket prices, German clubs restrict the number of season tickets sold, in order for more fans from around the globe to visit the country and enjoy the league. “Demand is huge but clubs choose to limit season ticket sales to 40 or 50% because they don’t want the same people going every week,” he added. “They want everyone to have a chance. It would be very easy to raise the prices and make more money out of the fans but the clubs tend to choose not to do so. From an economic perspective you can say ‘What a mistake’ but, given our holistic approach, I would say it is the right approach.”

Seifert says that this approach is based on bringing together “finances, the game and society: if we do not have success in all three dimensions, we do not consider it success at all.” He hailed the “basic treaty” that has existed between German clubs and the Bundesliga since 2002 empowering the belief that “clubs are an established part of society, bring people together and cities and regions identify with them”.

Once again for the coming season, the Bundesliga will have no say on ticket prices that clubs charge. When the biggest clubs in the German game charge more for a ticket than some second-tier English clubs, you begin to question the need for such high prices. 

Added to this, the fact that the Premier League receives almost twice the amount the Bundesliga does for sponsors, television rights and advertising overall. 

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