FC St. Pauli

Bernd von Geldern on

…the current situation regarding our commercial partners: "We're in good talks with our principal sponsors and are confident we can extend our partnership. For us, the relationship with congstar serves as a model for the themes we want to cover with other partners in future. The "No place for racism" campaign, for example, can serve as a blueprint for new partners followfood, who are now joining us at the second-highest level."

…the plans for future partnerships: "We're looking at strengthening the cooperation between club and sponsor even further. In the catering area, we want to become more regional and avoid food waste, and we're working on that with followfood. Our partners Lichtblick will become "Heart" partners next season, which shows the direction we want to go in. We want to incorporate our themes into our activations, serve as a platform for the topic of sustainability and become an exciting option for companies who are active in this area. Sustainability will play a big role in general. We started with DIIY, followfood and Lichtblick and are in the process of putting together a "common good balance sheet". These are all small adjustments that show what we're doing isn't greenwashing. What we're doing is serious. We'll keep taking these steps every day, true to the motto 'not perfect but better'."

…the progress with DIIY: "We decided to go with DIIY in a difficult period. A lot of companies who wouldn't otherwise be in football are approaching us because of it. DIIY is also profitable in other areas because we can sell Under Armour's executive box and perimeter advertising elsewhere now. It will probably also be the case that the shirts will sell out around Christmas time and we'll set a new record for the number of shirts sold. We couldn't have imagined any more momentum. In summary, we can say this business model has been a total success. It's great that this club is in a position to take a commercial decision like this in such a time of crisis. I find that really fascinating."

…the effect the success on the pitch has on merchandise sales: "It isn’t as if we'd fall into a deep hole if we got relegated. Equally, it isn't that much of an outlier if we have success on the pitch, though we do notice it, of course, when we have a seven-digit TV audience in total for a Saturday game."

…the uncertainty of the next few months: "After a wonderful first half of the financial year with new partnerships, the progress on the pitch and the processes we've launched, you do worry about what's to come, of course. The Dortmund game is very interesting from a commercial point of view. There's a big difference between playing behind closed doors and playing in front of nearly 30,000 fans, although there's no talk of it being played in front of a full-capacity crowd. We haven't budgeted for it, though like many others we had assumed we'd have 50% capacity crowds in the first half of the season and 100% in the second. In the end, they're the government regulations and we're very cautious in that respect and understand the caution of the politicians."

Photos: FC St. Pauli