Five years ago, Borussia Dortmund’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke stridently asserted: “Wir wollen ja Fußball spielen und keine Bank aufmachen! Wir wollen unseren fünf Millionen Fans Freude machen” (My translation: “We certainly want to play football and do not want to open a bank! We want to make our five million fans happy”). When it comes to the transfer market, Watzke reminded us that BVB is not a bank interested in accumulating profits. Whew.
As the economics and finances of our favorite sports have become increasingly visible, our fandom has evolved to include a sort Monopoly board game awareness of the business of big football. No wonder we need reminders, like Watzke’s truism. Because, if we reason with ourselves, for example, we actually don’t want our football clubs to make profit that just sits in the bank.