Football: Financial investor Blackstone doesn't want DFL participation. Is the league setting everything to zero?

Enlarge image

Looking for a solution:

DFL executive committee spokesman

Hans-Joachim Watzke

is running out of interested parties.

Photo:

Ralph Orlowski/ REUTERS

The plan was simple and extremely clever at the same time, which

David Blitzer

(54) recently brought to the German Football League (DFL). The top manager of the private equity giant Blackstone is ready to sell his private stake in FC Augsburg in order not to jeopardize his employer's big plans.

At that time, Blackstone was in the grand finale for entry into German football - alongside its competitor CVC. The DFL is currently trying for the third time to find a financially strong partner to market the media rights. 8 percent of the rights are to be sold for up to 20 years – for at least one billion euros.

The DFL actually wants to make a final decision in March. Blackstone and CVC had been cleaning the books in recent weeks as part of due diligence to prepare their final offer.

Did CVC win?

No conflicts of interest, free rein for Blackstone: That was Blitzer's message. Advisors to DFL managing directors

Steffen Merkel

(38) and

Marc Lenz

(37) had warned of such conflicts if Blackstone were to win the contract.

But Blitzer's plan now turns out to be unnecessary. Blackstone has lost interest in German football. The financial investor withdraws his offer. The DFL confirmed a report from the Bloomberg news agency late on Tuesday evening. This leaves the private equity investor CVC as the only bidder left and therefore the interested party in whom influential league officials saw even greater conflicts of interest than Blackstone. CVC around Germany leader

Alexander Dibelius

(64) is already invested in the Spanish La Liga and the French Ligue 1.

Now there are three scenarios: close your eyes and go through, substitute a bidder from the bench - or the final whistle.

The DFL assures that they will now only negotiate with CVC. But Blackstone's exit has significantly weakened the league's negotiating position. In the second scenario, DFL executive committee spokesman

Hans-Joachim Watzke

(64) would bring the eliminated third bidder, the private equity house EQT, back into the race in order to be able to choose from two offers in the end. The league sorted out EQT a few weeks ago - partly because the price offered was slightly lower than that of its competitors.

Tennis balls and chocolate coins

Third option: The investor process is stopped. Some league bosses fear that Blackstone's exit will further strengthen the numerous opponents of the DFL deal. Fans have been disrupting Bundesliga games for weeks by throwing tennis balls or chocolate chips onto the field. Some matches brought them to the brink of abandonment. Several club bosses have already suggested a new vote - which would then most likely be against investors joining.

The loud protests in the stadiums probably also indirectly led to Blackstone's exit. Instead of vigorously defending their plans, which the league decided in December after a long debate with a two-thirds majority, the football bosses remained rather quiet. At least that's how Blackstone managers felt. The DFL obviously no longer seemed like a reliable partner for a billion-dollar deal to the US investor. With a new end to participation, the league would probably also have to end its plan to build its own streaming platform with investors' money - and thus attract Internet giants such as Apple or Amazon when the broadcast rights are next sold in four years.

That leaves David Blitzer. The Blackstone manager indirectly holds nine percent of the club's professional department. He once said that he wanted Augsburg to play in the European Cup soon. However, the club's manageable splendor no longer really fits into his portfolio. Augsburg hasn't finished in a single-digit place in the table at the end of the season for years.

The rest of his portfolio offers more fame and profit. Sports tycoon Blitzer joined the Philadelphia 76ers basketball club and the New Jersey Devils ice hockey club together with a partner. Blitzer at least holds the majority in other football clubs such as Estoril Praia in Portugal and can therefore make more out of his investment. In Germany the 50+1 rule prohibits this.

The conclusion of insiders familiar with Blitzer's strategy: Blackstone's withdrawal should not change his plan to sell his Augsburg package.