Creating success together

Strong partnerships for clubs, associations and sports companies

Emotions, tension, passion – those are the things we associate with sport, whether as an athlete, fan or official. To be able to ensure enduring financial success on the sports field, meaningful decisions also need to be made based on well-founded analyses that have strategic vision. 

Our sports business team will give you the best possible support with customised advisory and auditing services for sports clubs, professional operations that have been spun off into corporations, sporting associations as well as for local authorities and other stakeholders.

Together, we’ll make your next decisions easier.

With our interdisciplinary team drawn from the Advisory, Tax, Audit and Legal service lines, we can respond in a flexible and targeted way to our clients’ various needs and crucially advance the organising and implementing of complex projects. 

  

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Our range of services particularly includes the following:

We have particular expertise in the area of sports infrastructure. We provide the following services for professional sports clubs and related corporations, stadium companies (incl. municipal companies), potential investors, in coordination with the parties: 

  • Business, tax and legal advice for new company conceptions and restructuring of property and operator structures for sports arenas and stadiums
  • Creating business plans for stadium operator companies (incl. municipal companies and potential investors)
  • Market economy operator tests on the appropriateness of stadium leases including state subsidy aspects
  • Business support with negotiations concerning stadium lease agreements 
  • Benchmarking analyses, e.g. ticketing, hospitality, marketing of rights to names, third-party events, etc.
  • Valuation of stadium companies (in accordance with IDW S1)

Business plan drafting/plausibility checks, taking into account scenarios from various leagues, e.g.

  • To support the internal income and liquidity planning of professional sports clubs
  • For other stakeholders, e.g. financing banks
  • Advice on spinning off professional teams as corporations
  • Advice on exploiting new debt and equity forms of financing, e.g. using club member-financed cooperative models or fan bonds
  • Valuations/due diligence, e.g. in the investment process for professional teams organised as corporations or new areas of activity such as e-sports
  • Valuation of collateral made to financing banks (e.g. branding rights related to club names or logos)
  • Annual and consolidated financial statements for professional sports clubs and their professional spin-off corporations
  • Auditing and support with applying for licences from the DFL for the various Bundesligas
  • Advice on accounting issues (e.g. measurement of player registration rights)
  • Tax returns such as for corporations, clubs, independent and dependent foundations and corporations under public law 
  • Corporate income tax, trade tax and VAT, real estate and real estate transfer tax
  • Tax advice for non-profit associations and foundations
  • Declarations for public-benefit institutions, including segregation accounting, use of funds accounts and
  • Advice on all issues of non-profit law, such as donations and sponsoring, tax classification and structuring for sports events and structuring subsidies between non-profit entities 
  • Tax assistance with founding, restructuring and liquidations
  • Tax advice on drafting articles of association and contracts and agreeing them with the tax office

Our contacts in sports business for you

Tim Bonnecke

Partner
Duesseldorf  Office
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Udo Banke

Partner
Duesseldorf  Office
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Peter Binger

Partner
Duesseldorf  Office
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Kai-Uwe Schwering

Manager
Duesseldorf  Office
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    Our awards

    We’re proud of the awards we’ve won. And we’re just as happy that our clients give us top ratings! We’re working hard to keep it that way. And that’s a promise!
      Where we make an effect

      Selected projects – sports infrastructure

      We support professional sports clubs (and their corporations) as well as stadium operator and property companies with all the economic aspects of stadiums, arenas and sporting facilities. Some example projects serve to show how broad our range of advice is – from regulatory audits to valuations all the way to economic and tax planning.

      IDW S1 valuation of a stadium company
      Practical example

      IDW S1 valuation of a stadium company

      1.
      Initial situation:
      A professional football club’s interest in a stadium company was to be sold to a newly established cooperative, which club members could buy shares in. This required a valuation of the stadium company.
      2.
      Procedure:
      We conducted a valuation of the stadium company in accordance with IDW S1 and carried out a verification of the value using stadium benchmarking. We recorded our work in a valuation report.
      3.
      Result:
      Our IDW S1 valuation report provided a reliable basis for fixing the purchase price and for setting the shares to be sold.
      MEOT for stadium lease agreements
      Practical example

      MEOT for stadium lease agreements

      1.
      Initial situation:
      In the negotiations between a professional football club and the municipal stadium company over a new lease, the arm’s length nature of various contractual models and their conformity with subsidy legislation were reviewed.
      2.
      Procedure:
      In a market economy operator test based on a net present value approach and stadium benchmarking we analysed various contractual models, taking into account various league scenarios (first to third leagues).
      3.
      Result:
      Based on our analyses, contractual models were designed to conform with subsidy legislation. Our work served as the well-founded basis for decisions concerning the new lease contract and agreements with public bodies.
      Advisory RIA GT
      Practical example

      Business plan for building a new stadium

      1.
      Initial situation:
      A professional sports club planned to build a new stadium and required a business plan as the basis for decisions for the club, investors and municipal partners.
      2.
      Procedure:
      We developed profitability analyses, scenario analyses, capacity and operator planning and financing options to completely evaluate the project.
      3.
      Result:
      The business plan served as the basis for internal resolutions, talks with investors and the economic direction of the project.
        We’ll support you!

        Let’s talk about your projects

        We’ll support you with planning the next steps in a well-grounded and financially stable way.