Bitter for the club, sad for the team, a shame for the fans – and a consequence of the explosive corona situation. The Kracher home game in the DFB Cup against Borussia Dortmund, one of the biggest games of FC St. Pauli in recent years, will probably kick off in front of empty Millerntor stands.
As part of the tightening of the corona measures, politicians have also decided to exclude spectators at major national sporting events from December 28th. Although the measure is officially valid until the next federal-state summit on January 7th, an expansion to the first match days in 2022 is considered certain.
For St. Pauli that would mean: No spectators at the Millerntor at the start of the league against Aue (January 15) and in the second round of the Cup against BVB (January 18).
Important cup revenues are lost to St. Pauli
After the cup draw at the end of October, the Kiezklub had hoped for full grandstands and a full box office. In the last home games under 2G conditions, there were up to 24,000 fans in the stadium (29,546 seats). The Omikron variant, which is also contagious for vaccinated people, has changed everything.
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While the ghost league game against Aue means the loss of revenue that has already been budgeted, St. Pauli misses out on a substantial additional profit in the cup game in front of empty ranks. Should further ghost home games at Millerntor follow (at full capacity up to 700,000 euros revenue per game), there is a million hole.
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“The economic effects of the pandemic are currently to be managed for FC St. Pauli and will remain painful to manage even if the pandemic progresses drastically,” emphasizes President Oke Göttlich. The club has done well in recent years.
