Bavarian Financial Works: Bayern Munich lead the way in the Bundesliga’s latest TV deal

In a recent kicker report, the figures of the Bundesliga’s current television deal have been revealed and Bayern Munich is atop the financial leaderboard.

For the unfamiliar, most television deals are structured rather similarly. To simplify, there is a base amount that every team gets, and the rest are awarded on the basis of performance over a certain amount of time (this could range from one season to five seasons or even more in the case of some leagues).

Rather unsurprisingly, Bayern Munich top the list, having earned €90.2 million. Trailing them are Borussia Dortmund at €80.1 million, RB Leipzig at €78.3 million, Bayer Leverkusen at €75.5 million, and Eintracht Frankfurt at €73.5 million. Another notable team is Union Berlin, who went from earning the second least in the whole league during the 2020/21 season to now earning €54.9 million during the 2021/22 season.

This season, the payment breakdown is the same as the 21/22 season. 53% of the national revenues are distributed equally, meaning every club starts with a base amount of €26 million. Another 42% is distributed based on performance, 3% based on ‘Young talent’ and 2% based on ‘Interest’. These figures are set to change by next year, to 50% base, 43% performance, 4% young talent and 3% interest.

‘Young talent’ takes into account the deployment of locally trained young players, and ‘Interest’ refers to the value of the clubs through market analysis as well as analysis of the clubs with reference to advertising media.

The television deal percentages changed mostly due to the COVID pandemic which hit German clubs especially hard. In June 2020, the national TV contract for the Bundesliga was extended with more emphasis on the base level income to help all clubs stay afloat without gate revenue, but as fans return to stadiums this base income will be reduced, as is apparent in the 3% reduction from the current season to the next.