Like everyone else in the world of football, Borussia Dortmund managing director Carsten Cramer is worried about football finances as the game had come to a standstill because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bundesliga will be the first major European League to restart its season on Saturday and Cramer is hoping for an uninterrupted run till the end of the campaign.
“The financial impact of this break is enormous. We will lose 3-4 million euros per matchday because we will be playing without spectators and sponsors in the stadium. The longer it takes, the more difficult it will be for the club. However, we will have bigger problems if we have to stop again and it, in turn, delays the start of the next season. If that happens, then I am very sure that more than one club will be close to bankruptcy,” he told Sportstar .
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Predicting an impact on the upcoming transfer window, Cramer said: “Micheal Zorc, our sports director, usually has his busiest days in April and May (ahead of the transfer window). But now he is answering the phone by saying ‘let’s talk in a week’. No one can predict the future and no one knows when other leagues will start. The transfer market will be a different one this summer and not comparable to the last transfer periods.”
The club has been actively involved with the local community in this time of crisis and had converted its stadium into a coronavirus treatment centre during the peak of the pandemic. It had also tied up with supermarket chain REWE. “In times like these, you have to become creative and think of ways in which you can integrate all the stakeholders. We spoke to our employees and asked them how we could help them because our retail stores are closed. And that was how we partnered with REWE, which has a really high demand. It has hired 20 of our employees on a temporary basis,” Cramer said.
Catch the Bundesliga Live on Star Sports Select 1/HD, Star Sports Select 2/HD from May 16.
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