Bayern chief wants public to fund TV contracts

Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness has claimed all German residents should pay a supplement on their television licence fee to help fund football clubs.

Hoeness unveiled the idea, which would mean all games being shown on terrestrial channels rather than satellite TV, in an interview with the Wirtschaftswoche magazine.

"That way we would get 900 million euros each year and we would be very close to the 1.2 billion earned in England and 1.1 million in Italy," he said. "It is my great hope that people will soon be prepared to pay two euros each month for football.

"What's two euros anyway? Half a packet of cigarettes, or half a glass of beer at the pub. It is not as though I am interested in all the rubbish we get on the television anyway, but I still have to pay 18 euros in fees."

Surveys have found that 55% of Germans claim to be football fans, but even so, Hoeness might have trouble selling his idea of an extra 24 euros-per-year charge to watch football on TV.

"If we had an extra 100 million euros available, then I would tell our fans to get ready to celebrate winning the Champions League," he added.

Bayern go into Friday's Champions League quarter-finals draw with a more than 50% chance of getting an English opponent.

Hoeness believes his club would then be at an unfair disadvantage due to the greater financial resources available to English clubs, not only through television revenue but other sources.

Strict rules in Germany prevent clubs from being more than 49% owned by private investors or companies and Hoeness claims that, by German standards, a third of the clubs in the Premier League would be officially bankrupt.

"That means they can no longer finance playing games by themselves and if their tycoons decided not to play ball any more, they would have to shut up shop," he explained.

"I reckon there are 30 to 40% of clubs in Spain, Italy and England who are bankrupt, by our standards.

"They are only being kept above water by rich individuals or banks. There are clubs with debts of 650 million euros who are still mentioned with every big transfer. That cannot be serious."