Friday October 15, 2021
Clubs stay seated on tickets
Why doesn’t anyone want to go to the stadium anymore?
67,000 spectators in Dortmund and 57,000 in Hamburg: For the first time since the outbreak of the Corona crisis, fans are allowed to return to the stadiums en masse. But that doesn’t happen. The Ultras are also still on strike. What’s going on there?
Up to 67,000 fans in Dortmund, 57,000 in Hamburg and in the case of a third division club, all restrictions have been lifted – the stage is set for big fan parties in Germany’s soccer stadiums. Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, spectators have no longer been allowed to make a pilgrimage to the arenas in such droves. But whether they will actually do that seems more questionable than ever. The topic is potentially explosive.
In many places, the ticket contingents are far from being used up. At HSV, only 40,000 fans will probably come to the traditional duel against Fortuna Düsseldorf, even at BVB – unthinkable before Corona – there are still numerous tickets available for the game against FSV Mainz 05. TSG Hoffenheim, Hertha BSC or VfL Wolfsburg have not had their stadiums full in the past few weeks with significantly lower occupancy.
King football has to fight for its supporters more than ever – because its status has declined for many people during the Corona period. At least this is what a study carried out by Borussia Dortmund in collaboration with the TU Dortmund and the FH Dortmund says. Accordingly, before the pandemic began, 80 percent of the 28,000 BVB fans surveyed rated the importance of football in their lives as high, in spring 2021 it was just half.
Ultra groupings in particular are critical of stadium visits under the currently common corona restrictions. The Ultras of the Dortmund fan group “The Unity” have now announced that they will not return to the stadium for the club’s next Bundesliga home games in an organized manner. The jump from 25,000 to 67,000 viewers after the long restrictions caused by the corona pandemic should be seen “as a further step in the right direction,” explained “The Unity”. However, “a south stand that is only half full at the moment is not the right framework for our group to return,” the statement said. In addition, “more symbolic political than pandemic aspects” are responsible for the restriction to 50 percent of the standing room.
In Frankfurt there is even a complete boycott because of the applicable 3G Plus regulation. In order to still get the allowed 40,000 fans into the stadium, the Hessians subsidize the PCR tests of all supporters demonstrably not capable of vaccination with 50 euros. There seems to be a new reality, viewers no longer stream automatically. “Come to the stadium”, HSV coach Tim Walter made a direct appeal to the fans, almost as a representative.
The big clubs will look a bit jealous of the third division 1. FC Saarbrücken. The founding member of the Bundesliga is the first German professional team to use its stadium to full capacity without any restrictions. According to the corona regulation of the Saarland state government, which will apply from October 29, outdoor events no longer require compliance with the 3G regulation.
This makes it much easier for the club to organize a game. Especially now, when the stadiums are filling up more and more, compliance with all regulations is becoming a mammoth task. At the entrances, there are likely to be long queues at the weekend, despite different admission times, and there is an increased need for parking spaces. After all, fans are still encouraged to avoid the crush on buses and trains – chaos threatens.
At Union Berlin the chaos was perfect even before the game, the club submitted an urgent application to the administrative court to increase capacity. “Because we are not sure, because the administration is not sure, we have it checked,” said President Dirk Zingler: “I believe that it is important for everyone involved to obtain legal certainty.” They have it now, even if not as desired. It remains at 50 percent capacity in the old forestry department. The iron clubs will certainly use the permitted capacity in full – in contrast to many other clubs.