Bundesliga’s top four clubs giving up T.V. money to help the other clubs in Germany

Per a new report by Bild, the top four clubs in the Bundesliga; Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, and Bayer Leverkusen are going to be giving up their television rights payments in order to help the rest of the clubs in the league as well as Germany’s lower leagues. A lot of the teams in the lower divisions rely heavily on gate receipts and television money, so they’re being hit the hardest from a financial standpoint by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bundesliga as a whole faces up to a €770m loss through the league’s television sponsorship contract.

Essentially, what the top four clubs in the Bundesliga are doing is adding additional money by foregoing their Champions League television rights money to a pot of funds that will directly be distributed to the clubs that need it the most. Representatives from the top four clubs met last week to discuss this idea and to work out a model for how it will logistically work. They would be entitled to €12.5m, which they are choosing to give up and add to the collective pot of money and Bayern, Dortmund, Leipzig, and Leverkusen would be adding an additional €7.5m from their own cash funds, totaling an additional €20m.

It’s understood that the DFL has set aside a reserve of €45m from the current television contract to be used for certain projects to help some of the clubs cover the significant losses they’re experiencing during the pandemic. The money that the top four clubs are basically donating will go directly into this pot. If none of that money is needed to be distributed due to the success of the top four clubs foregoing their t.v. rights money, it will be distributed to clubs for the 2020/2021 season to help cover the significant losses suffered during the end of this current season.

Editor's Note, 3/26: This is now official.