RSVG Schweiz AG cleared by German and Austrian authorities

𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 🇨🇭𝗦𝘄𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘀: The joint venture 𝗥𝗦𝗠𝗚 𝗸𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝘄𝗲𝗶𝘇 𝗔𝗚 between Ringier Sports Media Group and Kicker Ventures has officially received the 🟢 green light from the competition authorities in Germany and Austria. At the heart of this partnership is the launch of the 𝗸𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗛 𝗮𝗽𝗽 – a proven success in Germany, now tailored for 🇨🇭Switzerland. Together with the local strength of sport.ch, we are building a new digital sports ecosystem: locally rooted, internationally connected, and powered by premium journalism and smart technology. For RSMG, this step is both strategic and emotional: expanding our international platform model while strengthening our home market. With kicker as the strongest sports brand in the German-speaking world, we’re uniting complementary strengths to shape the future of digital sports journalism in 🇨🇭Switzerland. To the RSMG Media Release: https://lnkd.in/eR7HET7f Bärbel Schnell | Stilian Shishkov | Tim Kollmann | Lucas Haenni | David Meier | Markus Krienbühl | Alexander Grimm | Dr. Lars Thomas Ihme | Stefan Benkert | Christopher Tausend, CAIA | Kira Schiller |Anita Dünner | Tobias Offergeld | Tommy Dobs | Nadja P. | Johanna Walser | Lennart Löscher | Bjoern Rosenthal | Panagiotis Sourilas | Oliver Kühn | Ringier | kicker | Olympia-Verlag GmbH

The Global Giant: FC Bayern Munich's Formula for Commercial Dominance FC Bayern München stands as a masterclass in leveraging prestige and stability for commercial success. As one of the world's most successful football clubs, Bayern's strategy is built on a unique foundation: consistent on-field excellence combined with the security of the German "50+1" ownership model. This blend attracts elite sponsors seeking both performance and rock-solid brand reliability. Here’s how Bayern maintains its elite commercial edge: 1. Stability & Trust (The 50+1 Advantage): The 50+1 ownership model creates exceptional trust and stability, minimizing the risk of volatile takeovers or sudden financial collapse. Sponsors value this long-term security. Example: Partnerships with German industrial giants like AUDI AG, Allianz, and adidas are not just sponsorships; they are strategic equity investments, demonstrating deep, long-term commitment to the club's stable structure. 2. Global Reach, Local Integration: Bayern strategically expands its brand globally through offices around the world while maintaining deep roots in Bavaria. This dual approach offers sponsors both mass international exposure and authentic local credibility. Example: Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile), a long-standing primary sponsor, leverages Bayern's global brand for its own international marketing while remaining a central figure in German football identity. 3. Leveraging Infrastructure & Digital Assets: The Allianz Arena is a powerful asset. The club uses its state-of-the-art infrastructure and advanced digital platforms to deliver highly personalized fan experiences and data-rich content, providing unique activation opportunities. Example: Bayern uses advanced data analytics to optimize everything from fan engagement to in-stadium operations, providing commercial partners with sophisticated insights and personalized marketing channels. FC Bayern demonstrates that unmatched stability, combined with strategic global expansion and consistent winning, creates an unrivaled platform for high-value, enduring sponsorships. Footletic Sports Management helps elite clubs and global brands navigate complex sponsorship ecosystems, maximizing reach and impact through strategic partnerships. 📩 Ready to elevate your brand with a global icon built on stability? Let's connect → contact@footleticsports.com #FCBayern #GlobalBrand #SponsorshipStrategy #50plus1 #FootballBusiness #FootleticSM

Analyzing FC Bayern München’s commercial success is fascinating. It’s a masterclass in how a commitment to stability (thanks to the 50+1 rule) and consistent excellence creates a brand that elite sponsors can trust implicitly for the long term. My latest post on Footletic Sports Management dives into how this German giant leverages its unique blend of stability, global reach, and equity partners (like Allianz and AUDI AG)to build a commercially dominant enterprise. https://lnkd.in/e58Zc2af What club do you think best balances global brand power with local community values? Let's discuss! #FCBayern #GlobalBrand #SponsorshipStrategy #FootballBusiness #FootleticSM

🚨 How many football fans are there around the world? 500 million? 1 billion? 3 billion? ✅ The answer: 4.1 billion people. According to Nielsen’s 2025 Global Sports Report, about half of the world’s population considers themselves football fans - making the sport the largest community of shared passion on the planet. ⚠️ But here’s the catch: stadiums can only hold a tiny fraction of those supporters. Even counting every major league and tournament, there are roughly 600 million match attendances each year. The Premier League sells around 15 million tickets per season. The Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, and others add hundreds of millions more - but nowhere near a billion. And many of those seats are filled by the same people. Season-ticket holders, locals, lifelong regulars. When you account for repeat visits, it’s likely that fewer than one in ten football fans ever attend a live match in a given year. That means most of the world’s football passion happens beyond the stadium - in homes, pubs, streets, and digital spaces. These fans might not have the time, access, or resources to attend in person, yet their connection to the game is just as strong 💪. It’s part of their identity, who they are. ✨ That’s where we believe that opportunity exists. ✨ As a tech startup, we want to help bridge that distance by creating experiences that bring fans closer to the clubs, players, and moments they love, wherever they are. Because if four billion people care this deeply, then football’s biggest opportunity isn’t on the pitch - it’s in how we connect fans to it 💫 ⚽ Video description Belgian fans gathered below a big screen watching the 2018 World Cup match between Brazil and Belgium. The end of the match comes and fans erupt in celebrations. #Football #Soccer #WorldCup #FanIdentity #Sports #FanIdentity

Como 1907 is pleased to announce a new partnership with PokerStarsNews, the Italian news site for sports lovers, which becomes the club’s Official Sleeve Partner. The PokerStarsNews logo will appear on the sleeves of the Men’s First Team jersey during the 2025/26 Serie A Enilive and Coppa Italia FrecciaRossa competitions. The partnership aims to create value and new opportunities for a growing community of passionate and connected sports fans. Enrico Rusi, Managing Director PokerStarsNews Italy, commented: “We are proud to announce our partnership with Como 1907, a club that shares our ambitious vision: an international sports project deeply rooted in the excellence of its local territory. This strategic collaboration will enable us to expand our editorial initiatives in innovative ways, bringing fans even closer to the emotion of sport and connecting with a broad and passionate community. We are thrilled to deepen our commitment to investing in the beautiful province of Como, building meaningful synergies and offering valuable visibility to our projects and partners.” C. Ryan Shelton, Chief Revenue Officer, Como 1907: “We’re proud to welcome PokerStarsNews as our Official Sleeve Partner. Their passion for storytelling and their connection with fans across different sports align perfectly with what we’re building at Como. This partnership is about celebrating the moments that make sport special and sharing them with a wider community here in Como and around the world.” Official statement ➡️ https://lnkd.in/d6ymNJre

Amateurs - the most underrated athletes in sports In every sport, there’s a large group of people who are often overlooked - the amateurs. They train hard, love their sport, and regularly compete in tournaments, yet rarely get the same structure and recognition as professionals. Across many disciplines, amateur players face similar challenges: no unified tournament calendar, no ranking system, and no consistent way to track progress or plan a season. Meanwhile, federations are missing a major opportunity to grow their communities. Imagine if, alongside professional and junior tours, federations also created official amateur leagues — divided by levels, with proper rankings and tournament calendars. This could: ✅ Expand the official sports community and attract new categories of active athletes - a strong argument for sponsors and ministries of sport. ✅ Increase revenue through annual membership fees. ✅ Keep players motivated, reducing dropouts and keeping people in the sport longer. ✅ Unite independent organizers under the federation’s ecosystem. At Tournated, we help make this possible. With our white-label solution, any sports federation can launch its own branded platform and bring together all leagues and tournaments under one digital roof - empowering athletes, organizers, and federations to manage their sport 100%.

📢 iSportConnect Masterclass in Lausanne Explored Turning Event Buzz into Year-Round Digital Growth 🗣️ Lausanne hosted the iSportConnect Masterclass “From Event to Everyday: Growing Digital Engagement & Revenue”, bringing together international sports leaders, digital strategists, and rights holders to explore how organisations can convert one-off events into sustained engagement and revenue streams. #sportsbiz #events #digital ➡️ Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gi56k5Ds

Most football fans are familiar with financial fair play or transfer windows, but have you ever heard of the 50+1 rule? ⚽ It’s a regulation that makes German football unique: clubs must retain the majority of their voting rights (50% + 1) in the hands of their members. This means no investor can simply buy a club outright; fans remain an essential part of the decision-making. For my Bachelor's thesis in Sports Management, I am exploring how this rule influences the marketing strategies of Bundesliga clubs. Early findings from my research and interviews show that 50+1 not only safeguards the tradition and credibility of the clubs but also directly impacts sponsor selection, fan engagement, and brand positioning. This constant balancing act – between tradition and modern business, fan voice and financial growth – is what makes German football such a unique case in sports management. And honestly, that’s what excites me most: the tension between preserving identity and pushing for progress. It’s not just theory, it’s a question of how the future of football will be shaped. 👉 Do you think the 50+1 rule is protecting the soul of German football or holding clubs back internationally?

𝐈𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 1𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐕𝐂 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬. Ahead of the historic Steelers Vs. Vikings NFL game this Sunday in Dublin, Enterprise Ireland has today launched a report, powered by PitchBook data on Ireland’s sports tech sector. The report points to Ireland’s robust domestic sports tech sector, home to 93 VC-backed sports tech companies, including 40 homegrown global innovators. These companies include ORRECO, Kitman Labs and Output Sports, who joined Enterprise Ireland for the launch of the report. All three companies are working with National Football League (NFL) teams and many other global sporting brands, including National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), PGA TOUR, Formula 1, Olympians, The Premier League and Premiership Rugby. Read more https://shorturl.at/tDxHG

Monday Business News🌍 Here’s your weekly roundup of the biggest football business stories from around the world! ⚽💼 1️⃣ Electronic Arts Goes Private in Record $55bn Deal Electronic Arts will be taken private in a $55 billion Saudi-backed leveraged buyout led by Jared Kushner and Silver Lake, the largest take-private transaction in history. EA’s blockbuster franchises such as EA Sports FC, Madden NFL, and The Sims will remain under CEO Andrew Wilson, with investors betting on AI-driven cost reductions to boost profitability after the deal closes in 2027. 2️⃣ BBC Secures 5-Year Deal for Women’s Champions League The BBC has won a five-year deal to broadcast Women’s Champions League matches on free-to-air channels in the UK, showing up to 7 games per season, including the final, to boost accessibility and visibility for the women’s club game. (Source: BBC Media Centre / Insider Sport) 3️⃣ Crux Football Acquires Montpellier Féminines Crux Football has made its first club acquisition by purchasing 100% of Montpellier HSC Féminines, ending 25 years of control by Montpellier’s men’s club management. The deal positions Crux to launch a multisite women’s football network across Europe. (Source: Bloomberg / Football Business Journal) 4️⃣ Liga Portugal’s Central Revenues Rise With Sponsorships Portuguese top-flight clubs generated €29.8 million in centrally distributed revenue in 2024–25, largely driven by enhanced sponsorship deals and collective commercial rights negotiations under Liga Portugal’s central model. (Source: SportBusiness) 5️⃣ FIFPRO Report Warns of Player Health Risks FIFPRO’s latest workload report highlights that many players lacked proper offseason and preseason rest, with Club World Cup teams given as little as three weeks before resuming competition. The report warns football remains an outlier among elite sports, urging minimum protections to safeguard player health and performance. (Source: FIFPRO) 📲 Follow us for more football business insights and updates on global football trends! Applications are open for March & September 2026: https://hubs.ly/Q03Mg5W60 #StudyFootball #WorkinFootball #FootballNews #womensfootball #woso #EA #EASports #FIFPro #LigaPortugal #Montpellier #CruzFootball #BBC #UWCL