”Borussia Dortmund is a brand worth advertising with,” said managing director Thomas Tress, who also commented on the club’s equity capital. ”We are in a strong position.”
Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA generated a total gross revenue of €358.6 million in the 2020/21 financial year (previous year: €486.9 million). The consolidated result shows a deficit of €72.8 million. The further decline in turnover compared to the previous year was almost completely compensated for by savings in operating expenses. The higher net loss for the year is mainly attributable to the reduced transfer revenues due to the subdued transfer market as well as to special write-offs of assets held for sale.
Overall, the company’s revenues fell by €36 million from €370.2 million to €334.2 million. The 9.7% drop is primarily due to the decline in revenue from match operations, conferences, catering, other and merchandising.
“While the previous year’s turnover was only diminished by four months of Coronavirus, we have now had to live with the pandemic for an entire financial year. Therefore, in terms of sales, this is an extraordinarily good result and a sign of Borussia Dortmund’s strength,” said Hans-Joachim Watzke. The CEO spoke of the “extremely stressful task of leading the business through a crisis that, this time, was not self-inflicted”, called on all supporters – if they have not already done so – to get vaccinated (“The key to everything”) and appealed to politicians: “Now is the time to make courageous decisions. We can no longer solve everything by closing up shop.”
The biggest cause of the financial losses was the ban on spectators attending almost all of the club’s home matches as a result of the restrictions imposed to limit the spread of the Coronavirus. While almost 1.8 million tickets were sold to the club’s 23 home matches across all competitions in the 2018/19 season (the last full season before the pandemic), only a total of 21,100 spectators were permitted to attend three home matches in the 2020/21 financial year. This corresponds to a reduction of almost 99%, which naturally had a massive impact on ticketing revenue. Revenues fell from €44.7 million in 2018/19 to €0.5 million in 2020/2021. In the conference, catering and other sectors, revenues fell by €28.8 million from €36.6 million to €7.8 million compared to the previous financial year, which was already affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. However, it was possible to compensate for the loss of much matchday-related advertising through alternative forms of advertising.
Revenues from advertising and TV marketing showed positive development compared to the previous year despite severe restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A considerable part of this growth can be attributed to the new contracts with main sponsors Evonik Industries AG and 1&1 Telecommunication SE and kit supplier PUMA SE, which came into effect on 1 July 2020. What is more, the club acquired an additional sponsor for the youth sector in the form of adesso SE.
”Borussia Dortmund is a brand worth advertising with,” said managing director Thomas Tress, who also commented on the club’s equity capital, which amounted to €232.6 million as of 30 June 2021: ”We are in a strong position.”
The transfer of Jadon Sancho to Manchester United Football Club, which was completed on 23 July 2021, is not included in the 2020/21 financial year. Overall, the gross transfer fees of €24.4 million are far below the previous year’s total of €116.7 million, with a decrease of €92.3 million.
