German Football Divided Over TV Revenue Distribution Debate

Traditional clubs like HSV and Schalke call for increased funding based on fan interest, while critics emphasize performance-based fairness.

Hamburger SV's finance chief Eric Huwer advocates for more TV revenue consideration for traditional clubs with large fanbases, citing factors like stadium attendance and brand reach.
Schalke 04 has also pushed for a redistribution model that places greater weight on 'tradition' and 'interest,' proposing a 50/50 split between performance and fan engagement metrics.
Christian Heidel of Mainz 05 opposes these proposals, arguing that TV revenue should primarily reward sporting performance and current achievements, not past successes.
Heidel highlights that Germany’s second division already receives 20% of the overall TV revenue, which he considers a generous allocation from first-division clubs.
Even Huwer acknowledges that HSV's recent failure to secure Bundesliga promotion was not due to the current revenue distribution system but rather internal shortcomings.