Season
27.04.20
Wettstein: “We have to continue on the path we are on”
HSV’s CFO talks about the club receiving its licence to play in the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga next season, planning in this corona-affected period and the possible consequences of the pandemic for professional football.
The DFL announced today, that none of the 49 applicants for a licence for the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga were rejected on financial grounds for next season. In other words, that means that HSV will receive the licence for both divisions in the middle of May? Does that announcement fill you with joy?
Frank Wettstein: The DFL’s licensing process [where the DFL checks the financial capability and sustainability of a club] has shown itself to be reliable over the years. Due to the current situation, the DFL corrected the process accordingly and gave the clubs a little more breathing room to deal with the crisis. The challenges currently being faced are much bigger than the licensing process, so that the news (of everyone receiving the licence) won’t be met with huge amounts of joy anywhere in the league, and it’s the same at HSV.
The DFL wants to continually check the financial criteria of the individuals clubs during the 2020/21 season. Is that not an additional organisational burden during a league campaign?
Wettstein: No, it isn’t. The clubs check themselves if the financial reserves are enough or if things need to be readjusted. Especially due to the current situation, all responsible parties are already doing this, so there doesn’t need to be an initiative from the league (in order to start this). But it’s right that the DFL are informed about what the clubs are doing.
What does financial and liquidity planning look like during the current situation? You don’t even know when HSV will be able to count on income from home games with spectators, from catering, events or merchandising.
Wettstein: Uncertainty doesn’t free us from our responsibility as a business to plan, in fact the opposite is true. Without uncertainty, you wouldn’t need to plan. Naturally it’s a particularly difficult challenge at the moment, to try and plan and predict how everything will pan out. Therefore, we are trying to plan with various different scenarios and the plans are being checked and adjusted in a much shorter time period than usual.
Several clubs in the first and second division have publicised the difficulties they are in, with possible insolvencies and emergency loans being talked about. At HSV it is comparatively peaceful. Why is that?
Wettstein: We have no reason to act hastily, we can wait and deliberate to see how the crisis develops. But even we have to be able to pursue our main line of business again at some point and wouldn’t be able to survive indefinitely without league football. The question isn’t whether a club runs out of money, but at what point which clubs are affected.
Why haven’t the HSV first team publicised whether and how much of their salary they have agreed to waive during the crisis?
Wettstein: It’s also important here not to be too hasty and to reach decisions when decisions can be made. An ill thought-out plan doesn’t help anybody. It’s extremely pleasing that our first team internally registered their willingness to help right at the beginning of the crisis.
Do you think that the coronavirus pandemic will change professional football?
Wettstein: I’m not sure and for me that topic of conversation is being talked about too much at the moment. Most industries in our country are affected by the crisis, businesses of all shapes and sizes are suffering. All firms affected by the crisis will have to think about whether their business model is able to handle such shocks. Football clubs are no exception to that, perhaps the requirements from the association will also be changed to reflect that. But it’s hard to plan for a situation where income that was believed to be secure disappears from one day to the next. I hope that all clubs are able to survive the crisis and we can continue league football in the near future. I can’t imagine a different structure to the leagues being used due to the crisis or games being played behind closed doors for a longer period. Changes to salary structures as well as transfer mechanisms will be discussed depending on how everything pans out.
What short-term and medium-term consequences do you think there will be for HSV?
Wettstein: We have to continue the path that we are on and make ourselves less dependent on short-term events and results. That we had started this process already serves us well in the current climate but we have to be stable long-term as well. The transfer policy from the past few windows as well as performance-related contracts with players, coaching staff and other members of staff are already helping to lessen the strain of events such as the current crisis we find ourselves in. However, it will be difficult to avoid or insure against pandemics in the future.
Thanks for your time.