The Münchener Rennverein (MRV) gets going again, and his approaching gallop naturally gives him hope for good weather. Because that has always had an impact on the number of visitors on race days and thus directly on the income of the club. In the future, however, that may not be the only reason why they are hoping for as much sunshine as possible over the racetrack – because the MRV has some new ideas for financing that have to do with light in a broader sense. He presented these during the week at a general meeting.
In this – that was the most important item on the agenda – the club appointed a new president punctually before the start of the season this Sunday: Michael Motschmann, who was born in Munich, was the desired successor to President Dietrich von Boetticher, who resigned in February, and was elected with 84 out of 100 votes. The 64-year-old is a fund manager, owns racehorses in Germany and France, and from the very first appearance he tried to further reconcile the members, who had been divided into two camps for years, through patient communication. In doing so, he declared that the aim was for the club to function even more like a commercial enterprise in the future, i.e. no longer get into the quandary of having to compensate for deficits from racing with private loans and still not be financially able to do so to invest their own substance.
Factoring out depreciation due, the club reports one of the best results in the past 30 years
The club’s previous concept for this was to build apartments on part of its huge training ground in order to secure long-term income through rental. However, the city council wants to keep the area in question, around which a new residential area is planned in the east of Munich, as a green area – which is why the association is now considering building a photovoltaic system there instead. With this he can then both reduce his own costs and generate income, explained General Secretary Sascha Multerer. Secondly, they want to get more event income from the racetrack grounds in the future, for which the new vice president seems to have been made: Stephanie Countess von Pfuel has taken over this office. She should be able to achieve something similar with the racetrack as she did with her well-marketed castle in Tüßling – so the public should also be sought more intensely.
Multerer reported a loss of 185,000 euros for 2021 – which, however, was mainly based on depreciation of 216,000 euros. Without this, there would even be a positive result, as he said, “one of the best in the past 30 years”. This shows (in addition to a liquidity status that is still not lavish) that something can be done at the Riem racecourse.
A dark cloud still hangs over the train before it starts again: After a tax audit at the end of 2021, the tax office denied the MRV its non-profit status. Roughly speaking, this has to do with a judgment by the Federal Fiscal Court and the controversial question of how necessary breeding and performance tests are for species protection – the basis of all horse racing operations. One is in the objection phase here, says Multerer, and he is confident that clubs and associations will be right in the end. So far, he has never associated existential worries with the topic.
Eight race days are scheduled for this year, including, as usual, two in the top category Group 1. It starts with the Group 3 derby preliminary test Bavarian Classic on Sunday (11.20 a.m.). A shining anniversary is also being celebrated this year: 125 years of the Munich-Riem racecourse.
