Fußball ist kein Tennis

January 2, 2012 3:33 PM

During the month of December, 1. FC Union Berlin raised money to finance a new stand in its stadium by selling shares in the stadium to fans, under the slogan We're selling our soul. But not to just anyone! (YT--German). This is the second phase of renovation at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei, to bring it up to 2. Bundesliga standards. Much of the work on the first phase was done by the fans themselves (DW video--English).

Offering stock in the stadium is considered unusual. However, unlike in, say, the NFL (aside from the Packers, previously), German clubs are typically member-owned, courtesy of the Fifty plus one rule (part two).*

*The exceptions are Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg, due to traditional ownership by Bayer and Volkswagen, respectively.

posted by hoyland (9 comments total)

A stray link or two that I couldn't figure out how to get in the post without going further astray:
Construction diary (in German, but there are pictures from all 300 build days)
1. FC Union has an interesting history for its place in East German football as a club without one of the traditional state sponsors, but I can't find a satisfactory article about that, so have the wiki entry instead.
posted by hoyland at 3:39 PM on January 2

Ah, those unenlightened socialist Europeans!

Here in the US, multi-millionaire team owners grease State legislatures' politicians in order to confiscate a portion of the people's income to fund the construction of new stadiums.

We call it free-market capitalism.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 3:51 PM on January 2 [17 favorites]

From the Wikipedia link: "The club is widely recognized as one of Germany's nonconformist "Kult" clubs, based on their very emotional rivality with Dynamo Berlin in former GDR times.[citation needed] While Dynamo was affiliated with East Germany's Secret Service Stasi, Union Berlin was patronized by Eastern German Trade Union FDGB. This circumstance led them into an unofficial opposition against the socialist system and in Union's Stadion An der Alten Försterei the fans often were singing veiled chants against the political authorities. (...)
The official Union song is "Eisern Union" by the famous German Punk-Star Nina Hagen."
posted by iviken at 3:59 PM on January 2 [1 favorite]

Like Spartak Moscow (vs. CSKA the army team and Dynamo the KGB team).
posted by kersplunk at 4:09 PM on January 2

Don't forget that university football programs go into debt only to pass that debt onto their students, ZenMasterThis.

I'm still wishing that Rutgers' creditors would repossess the stadium to make it a concert only venue.
posted by jeffburdges at 5:03 PM on January 2 [2 favorites]

Ah, those unenlightened socialist Europeans!

Stories like this are not even remotely representative of European soccer.
posted by downing street memo at 5:24 PM on January 2 [2 favorites]

You lost me at "third division..."
posted by jsavimbi at 5:34 PM on January 2

Here in the US, multi-millionaire team owners grease State legislatures' politicians in order to confiscate a portion of the people's income to fund the construction of new stadiums.

Nope, that would never happen here in Europe.
posted by Skeptic at 1:04 AM on January 3 [2 favorites]

The interesting bit for me was that the stadium will seat something like 1600, but can have something like 14000 spectators as it's primarily a standing room stadium.

I can't imagine that going over very well in North America, but it's a great use of space.
posted by Phreesh at 7:49 AM on January 3