HELMUT SANDROCK, the general secretary of the Deutscher Fussball-Bund (DfB), has urged Scotland??s administrators to copy the three-point Bundesliga blueprint to football success.
HELMUT SANDROCK, the general secretary of the Deutscher Fussball-Bund (DfB), has urged Scotland??s administrators to copy the three-point Bundesliga blueprint to football success.
The economies of scale between the nations of Scotland and Germany are hardly the same, but safe standing areas, modest ticket pricing and selling alcohol within stadia are all part of the formula behind the buoyant German football culture which propelled Joachim Loew??s side all the way to become world champions in Brazil this summer.
??I am not quite sure what the average price is in Scotland but our average ticket price is €25,?? said Sandrock, addressing the SFA convention at Hampden. ??The Bundesliga, if I am right, is the only top league which allows people to stand at low prices, which allows people with not so much money to follow their teams. This is part of our culture and part of our success in Germany.
??When I see this famous south tribune in Dortmund, it houses approximately 30,000 spectators, and all of these spectators pay, I don??t know, €150 or €180 a season, so per match that is €10 or €12. This is still a big amount of cash for sure so Dortmund are able to improve. But German clubs get most of their money from TV, not so much from the fans.??
Consumption of beer within the packed German stadia is permitted, apart from certain matches which are classed as high risk. Such a model, exempting powder-keg fixtures such as Old Firm games, would also seem a reasonable way for Scottish teams to increase their revenue.
??It is also part of our culture and tradition to drink beer,?? added Sandrock, a former managing director of Celtic??s Europa League opponents, Red Bull Salzburg. ??This is normal but when it comes to high risk matches and so on then it is forbidden all over the stadium.
"It is difficult for me, because I don??t know the exact situation in Scotland. Does this rule come from the league or the police? Maybe one, two or three fans drink too much but normally I would say it should be allowed. Look at the World Cup and so on, where it is also allowed to drink beer.??
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