How Red Bull's investment into German soccer made me think about the current lockout

In 2006 the Austrian energy drink supplier Red Bull made a first attempt to buy a German soccer club in the eastern part of the country. After a long skirmish with both the German Soccer Federation and fans of other nearby rivals, Red Bull resigned for a while.

But in a second attempt in 2009 they finally were able to overtake a soccer club in Leipzig, Germany and started playing on the fifth level of German soccer club competition, meaning they would need at least four years to promote to the highest level, the German Bundesliga. Boosted by the enormous financial support of the sponsor, the team promoted to the fourth level in the very same year, but fans in that area protested against the engagement of the big company in the local soccer scene. Some of them tried to interfere on an administrative level, by stopping subsidies for the club in example, and most of them protested peacefully holding placards during games and stuff. But a minority also decided to fight. Literally! During the first season some games had to be abandoned or interrupted due to riots or too much pyrotechnics in the stands. The clubs headquarter was attacked and players of the club were threatened with hate mails or at least lost reputation for playing for the team. A few games had to be protected by hundreds of police officers in a league where, on a normal day, merely 500 fans show up for the games at best. The facebook-page of the biggest "Anti-RB"-movement says: "Soccer is for you and me, not for the (expletive) industry!"

Although the situation has cooled down a bit since, it's nowhere considered to be gone.

So why am I telling you guys that story? Red Bull is the same company that runs the MLS-team Red Bulls New York and several other soccer franchises around the world and for the U.S. and other countries it is the normal case to have an ownership behind a sports club. But not in Germany. So what did the fans drive in their protests, even violent assaults on both the players and the clubs property? It was against commercialization of sport in general, treating a soccer club like business. They said, if you looked for profits on the long run it would destroy the fan culture and the sports spirit that had developed over the past one hundred years. And they are willing to fight for it.

I never fully sympathized with that behavior. You have to understand that the eastern part of Germany, after the reunion in 1989, has never been able to establish a big soccer franchise in the highest level of German club competition. The investment of Red Bull into Leipzig's soccer scene objectively was the best thing for them to happen: They build up a big stadium, spent money in an otherwise declining market and brought back the soccer in that area to significance. Next year they will promote to the third level of German club competition and it's foreseeable that they'll play in the German Bundesliga in the near future.

But on the other hand, people are anxious that at some point big companies and/or owners take over the soccer system in Germany and by then money will rule over sport fans.

I guess now you know where I'm coming from, because this is what happened to the NBA these days. What disappoints me the most about the lockout is not that fact that we won't see any games of the sport we love that much, but more that for all parties involved money seems to be more important than the guys that made them who they are: the fans. True, we can't cheer for our favorite teams, but for some fans it's even worse, because their work-life is somehow related to the NBA and the economical impact of the lockout for the common man is, if I can believe what I'm reading, huge.

Additionally I am really not into the circumstances that brought us the lockout, nor the negotiation tactics on both sides that made a deal so very uncertain at this point, nor the legal actions that will take place in the future, but what's more important: As a fan, I don't care about that stuff at all. I just want ten players and a ball back on the floor, no matter how.

Seriously: If David Stern or Derek Fisher flew to Muenster, Germany, knocked on my door and wanted to personally explain to me why this is all happening, I would sent them back home. If they both came, I would lock them up in my bathroom until they came out with a deal. Do they even care that, night in and night out, I sit on my computer, hoping and praying that they will solve the issue? I don't think so. Yeah, they say they are sorry for the fans, tried everything for the fans, but all that reaches me is a big blah. I'm tired of clicking through the major outlets, reading the news about the lockout, listening to their insiders and experts. I really am. I can't stand the Hunters or Jordans any longer and I think Mr. Fisher shouldn't play in the NBA any longer. In my opinion he can hire at some sort of Wall-Street company as a business consultant. NBA Player? Thanks, but no thanks, I don't want to see him on the court again. Same goes for several other members of this big winter disappointment.

Yes, I'm emotional, but that's what sport is all about: emotional investments. In a player, your team or the sport in general. That's how it works. That's how they make money out of it (us). I've read a great article on grantland.com a while ago, in which Malcolm Gladwell explained why owning a basketball franchise has always been a bad business and why psychic benefits make up for it. Maybe owners should have listened. Or are both players and owners not interested in those psychic benefits any longer and try to make money out of something that's not build for making money out of it? Besides: Any one else thinks that the NBAPA-"joke" on their website is downright pathetic. Yeah ... reeeeaaaaally funny! Haha...!

Well anyway, at least I learned two things the past weeks:

1. The lockout has done something in the relationship between me as a fan and the owners/players. In psychology we call it the equity theory. In every relationship you need to have balance between your inputs and outcomes. I emotionally invested a lot and got back nothing this season so far. It's especially hard when you consider that we finally got a title to town and now all that follows is a … black hole? So I'll split up, in a way. I stopped following the lockout-coverage some time ago and I'll continue to do so. I know I'm too addicted to completely cancel our friendship NBA, but at least I won't give you any unique page-visits for stuff that only lawyers, businessmen and economists are interested in. Get back to me when you want to do sports. Then, and only then, I'm available for you as a fan again.
2. In Leipzig, Germany fans are fighting against the commercialization of sports. I never fully sympathized with that behavior, but now I do.