Transforming the Bundesliga for future generations

15 May 2019 – At the recent hub.berlin business festival for digital movers and makers, the DFL’s CEO Christian Seifert outlined how the Bundesliga is transforming itself to meet the demands of delivering football to a 21st-century audience. At the heart of his message – ‘The Transforming Power of World Class Sports’, was the importance of retaining a strong connection with fans, both within Germany and across the world.

The Bundesliga is proud to offer fans ‘Football As It’s Meant To Be’, and Seifert explained a few of the reasons behind that: standing terraces, low ticket prices – and the impressive statistic that the Bundesliga draws an average crowd of 43,000 per match, the second-highest figure of all global sports leagues after the NFL. ‘When you talk about the Bundesliga, you’re talking about a very strong connection between the fans and the clubs,’ said Seifert. ‘In Germany, forty million people – half of the country – are interested in the Bundesliga.’

Seifert considers the DFL, which is responsible for the organisation and marketing of professional football in Germany, part of the content industry as media revenue accounts for 35% of the Bundesliga’s €3.81 billion turnover. ‘We have to act, feel and think like a media company,’ he added. ‘In 2019, that means transformation.’ Seifert pinpointed three aspects that he believes will be hugely important in how the DFL operates moving forward: devices, distribution and consumption.

Why ‘Football As It’s Meant To Be’ also means ‘content as it‘s meant to be’? See the video of the full keynote by Christian Seifert below: