Corona: RB Leipzig is suing against spectator rules in politics

Status: 2:14 p.m | Reading time: 3 minutes

Dhe anger of the German professional leagues about the corona restrictions for spectators in the venues is increasing. Now the first Bundesliga club is suing: RB Leipzig is taking legal action against the current protective ordinance in Saxony.

The BILD reported first. The regulation is valid until February 6th, currently only a thousand spectators are allowed in the stadium in the Free State.

Leipzig wants to overturn the existing rule with a temporary order, submitted an urgent application to the higher administrative court in Bautzen. The club reported this on Saturday afternoon. The new ordinance is currently being drafted and should be decided on Tuesday, it will then apply until March 6th. The new regulation also provides for a limit of one thousand fans.

RB is bothered by the different regulations for the clubs. Bayern recently decided that 10,000 fans are allowed in the stadiums again, Baden-Württemberg set 6000 as the maximum. In Saxony-Anhalt even up to 15,000 spectators are allowed in the stadiums. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the upper limit is 750 spectators.

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Borussia Monchengladbach

There are no relaxations in Saxony either. In other federal states, more people are allowed to come together indoors than in the arena in Leipzig. RB considers this disproportionate. Borussia Dortmund and 1. FC Köln are also considering legal action.

Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO of sixth-placed Leipzig, announced during the week: “If there is no quick solution, we will also check with other Bundesliga clubs whether and how we can take legal action. Because that is part of our corporate responsibility.”

RB states minus of 60 million euros

In the past two years, despite a minus of over 60 million euros, there has been a lot of understanding for political decisions. “But now the point is where every citizen, every entrepreneur and every Bundesliga club can expect pragmatic, logical and understandable decisions.”

A court judgment on Wednesday should give Leipzigers hope for success. The Saxon Constitutional Court had dismissed a lawsuit by two RB fans against the corona-related exclusion from the stadiums.

However, the court required politicians to “justify the capacity limitation in an arbitrary manner” in the next regulation. The Saxony Ministry of Social Affairs explained: “As part of the new regulation, it is being examined how the judgment can be taken into account in the justification for the new regulation.”

The clubs also have financial worries in other sports due to the fan exclusion. In a letter to Hendrik Wüst, Prime Minister of the federal state, and Minister of Health Karl-Josef Laumann, the four NRW clubs of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) are calling for the spectator restrictions in professional sport to be lifted.

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“Ice hockey games with spectators are feasible and also responsible,” says the letter signed by the managing directors of the Kölner Haie, the Düsseldorfer EG, the Iserlohn Roosters and the Krefeld Pinguine. “Sports events were and are demonstrably not corona hotspots.” The “adherence to the spectator restrictions – currently a de facto lockdown” is “incomprehensible”. The regulations seemed “increasingly contradictory and sometimes also arbitrary.” Without spectators “we bleed out emotionally and economically.”

The DEL clubs are currently playing without spectators because the small number that is sometimes permitted is not economical. State aid is “far from sufficient”, the daily income would account for up to 80 percent of the annual budget.

In the letter, the four clubs also refer to the new rules in Bavaria: “Act with determination and courage, otherwise many sports clubs in North Rhine-Westphalia are at risk – including the traditional ice hockey locations of Cologne, Düsseldorf, Krefeld and Iserlohn.”

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