When a small club from the city of Hamburg struggles their way up to the Bundesliga, the huge financial disparities in the league make it hard to become competitive enough to stay up.
Management at the politically left football club are trying a new and innovative tactic to raise capital to invest in the team and lower expenses. As reported in The Athletic and other sources they are selling their stadium to their fans.
St Pauli is a unique club in their intensity of their commitment to left wing and social responsibility values. This has somewhat handcuffed them in terms on easy ways to raise revenue. They will not take commercial revenue from gambling companies or other companies that they do not believe promote their values (compare this to say Dortmund who recently took on an arms manufacturer as a major sponsor much to the chagrin of many of their fans).
Unlike the Premier League where promotion from the Championship delivers a team something in the ballpark of 180 million euros, the Bundesliga offers no such instant revenue. This means that St. Pauli’s wage bill is about 4% of Bayern’ and barely 10% of Leipzig’s. So if the side is to escape eternal minnow status they have to get creative.
And this they have done.
The team is transferring ownership of its stadium, Millerntor-Stadion, to a co-operative and is now selling shares in that co-operative. While the exact number of shares being sold is not clear it is known that they will be selling a controlling interest in the stadium. If you have some spare cash lying around and want to get in on the deal the cost is about 850 euros per share.
There is no cap on how many shares any one person may buy, but in true St. Pauli fashion each owner will only be entitled to one vote no matter how many shares they own. They also plan to screen share purchasers to make sure they have the interests of the club at part. An owner may sell their share in the future, but only for the price they paid for it.
Once the restructure is completed then the club will still receive all match day revenues, but the new co-operative will set the rent that the club will have to pay to use the stadium. With the ownership comprised of fans it is expected that the rent will be friendly, and will be adjusted downward if the club is relegated or otherwise struggles. The co-operative management will also be expected to raise other revenue sources (concerts, fairs, etc) for the stadium to use to keep rent for the club reasonable.
Even in a league governed by the 50+1 rule this is a bold step. But St. Pauli’s management is betting that their fans will step up to help the team to the tune of tens of millions of euros. Based on their history and the emotional commitment of their fans that looks like a good risk.
