Soccer, Security, and Cost

There's a fairly serious lawsuit underway in Germany, which could have an impact upon soccer match entry prices.

For those who've never been to a Bundesliga (German major league soccer) game, there are certain clubs and fans, who have a physical problem with particular clubs.  Soccer hooligans are somewhere in the mix, and because of this.....a police response beyond 'normal' has to occur.

If you went to a normal major league soccer game, you can anticipate at least forty cops around the stadium in the hour prior, the entire game itself, and for at least an hour after the game.  For a high tension and hooligan-rich game?  You could be talking about two-hundred to three-hundred cops called for at least six hours of duty. 

Naturally, you'd be asking the question....who pays for the man-hours of the cops?

Well....through all these years, it's been paid for by the city governments.

At some point in the past decade, someone started to ask the question.....why not make the stadium (via tickets) pay for the extra security.

ARD (public TV, Channel One) picked up the story this morning and laid out the basic facts.

A good example of the cost factor....for the 2016/2017 season, if you count both the major league and second league....the police provided 1.4 million man-hours of work to ensure the safety of fans.  This goes upward to 100-million Euro in value.  So ARD puts out this one interesting fact.....in most EU countries....the stadiums (via tickets) pay for the extra cost of security.  German does it via city government.

Bremen decided five years ago to start a fee for any event (not just soccer), and that if you triggered an event for 5,000 or more people.....you needed to pay a fee.  They aren't talking about a 1-Euro for 1-Euro of cost fee.....in fact, it was much less.  They just wanted a return on their cost to some degree.

This eventual fee came to hit major league soccer in Germany, and amounted to 425,000 Euro (for one single year).  The major league soccer headquarters questioned why they (and not the club itself) had to pay this.  So it's been in court for roughly three years.

This week, probably Friday, the German national court will decide upon the ending to this.  It could go three ways....(1) the city is illegally collecting a fee, (2) the national soccer folks have to cover this cost, or (3) the local club itself has to cover it. 

Here is one odd factor in this.  The national league is composed of sixteen clubs.  You can have on a single Saturday.....eight games in play, and out of this three of the games require only moderate police security (meaning maybe forty cops just walking around).  Two of the games might require 300 police....some in riot-gear....to protect people.  To say that the national league itself ought to pay is silly, and it ought to be drawn up each match, and a fee attached to the tickets.

But the question comes up.....how much would this fee be?  A normal regular ticket (to a Mainz game) will be around 12-Euro.  Better seats?  Near 25-Euro.  My humble guess on a normal-day security fee attachment would be around four-Euro per ticket.  This puts the basic entry situation at $20 (US).  Toss in beer, brats....you'd be spending near 40-Euro for the day.  But if this were a game with high threat potential?  Well, you could be talking about a twelve-Euro fee per ticket.

The question will arise for the 2nd league and the cheaper games/tickets.  You could have a case where you are paying almost the same price for security, as the basic entry ticket itself.  Just to suggest that scenario, you'd drive a German soccer fan nuts. 

So, is it really dangerous at games?  The basic answer.....no.  There are particular clubs which have a major hooligan private club on the side, and they do engineer fights as part of the side-entertainment (I hate to suggest that term, but it's the simple truth).  Some stadiums go way beyond the norm to ensure visiting fans only enter through a particular entrance, and sit only in one section of the stadium.....just to avoid trouble. 

If you are on Friday night and your German associate is all hyped up about some court activity for the day....at least you know the basic story.