Contents
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Page 1 — Take the points away from Salzburg!
Page 2 — Resistance to the new format
Red Bull may give you wings, but it also gives you boredom. At least the Austrian football league, which was once really exciting. The Viennese dueled with the Salzburgers, the Tyroleans with the Styrians. The championship was mostly a thriller. Until the billion-dollar brewery company Red Bull took over Austria Salzburg in 2005 and created a top club that was perhaps too rich and too smart for the league. The result: no more championship fight. For ten years only one has won: RB Salzburg. Often with a lead of ten, 15 or almost 20 points.
The fans fell asleep from boredom. But not just her. Also the league bosses, sponsors and TV makers. So everyone sat down at the table – and turned the league on its head. A new format was introduced for the 2018/19 season. The clear goal: prevent the Salzburg permanent championship.
The league was expanded from ten to twelve clubs. In addition, it will now be split into two after 22 match days, around two thirds of the season. In one group the six best teams play against each other twice, in the other the six worst teams play against each other. This is reminiscent of entertainment formats from television Big Brother Successful candidates were allowed to move into a luxury apartment, losers went into a dungeon. But the crucial change is different: all clubs’ points will be halved in the final round. The lead that RB Salzburg has usually accumulated after two thirds of the season is reduced by half. The left-behind competition gets a second chance.
In the new format, the theory goes, the top clubs play among themselves in the championship round, in a kind of Austrian Super League: constantly top games, excitement, full stadiums, satisfied sponsors and TV channels. Naturally, fewer fans are interested in the relegation round, whose games take place on other days. But the league also wants to make this round extra exciting: the winner of the losers group will have the chance of a European Cup starting place.
The league’s image was tarnished
The reform is “a huge opportunity to further develop Austrian football both sportily and economically,” says Bundesliga CEO Christian Ebenbauer. Under the chairmanship of the 47-year-old lawyer, the Bundesliga has recently become more attractive. That was also urgently needed. There are only a few big clubs like Salzburg, Linzer ASK, Rapid and Austria Vienna. Village clubs such as Hartberg and Grödig also shape the image of the league. Few people were interested in their games, some of which were on prime time. The league’s image was tarnished. Added to this was the boredom, champions, relegated teams and European Cup starters were often decided weeks before the end of the league.
In fact, there have been many gripping moments since the league was reformed: Who makes it into the championship group, who slips into the relegation round? Even the big clubs like Rapid Vienna stumble again and again. And by halving the points, everyone came together at the start of the final round. The pay-TV broadcaster Sky is currently paying 40 million euros per season for the broadcast rights, more than ever before. The league can see this as a good sign, but the record contract is not only related to the new format. The league also guarantees Sky more exclusivity.
Another success for the league: the average attendance rose from 6,400 fans per game before the reform to 7,500 since then. In the current season there are as many as 8,000 fans coming to the stadium per game. But that doesn’t have to be due to league reform either. The Linzer ASK opened its new stadium this year and audience interest more than doubled. To this end, the league has tightened its licensing criteria and is generally demanding better stadiums. In the ten-a-side league, which has been played for decades, the average audience 15 years ago was almost 10,000.
Red Bull may give you wings, but it also gives you boredom. At least the Austrian football league, which was once really exciting. The Viennese dueled with the Salzburgers, the Tyroleans with the Styrians. The championship was mostly a thriller. Until the billion-dollar brewery company Red Bull took over Austria Salzburg in 2005 and created a top club that was perhaps too rich and too smart for the league. The result: no more championship fight. For ten years only one has won: RB Salzburg. Often with a lead of ten, 15 or almost 20 points.
