Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund ended the first season after the corona pandemic with a profit. At the end of the 2022/2023 financial year (June 30), the listed group made a plus of 9.5 million euros.
In the comparison period 2021/2022 there was a loss of almost 31.9 million euros. The corona pandemic cost the club a total of 150 million euros, said managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke today at the balance sheet press conference of Borussia Dortmund GmbH
The turnover with the included transfer proceeds for star striker Erling Haaland and defender Manuel Akanji (both to Manchester City) increased by 12 percent to 515.4 million euros. After the pre-season, this value was still just under 460 million euros due to lower viewer income during the pandemic. The transfer of young star Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid for more than 100 million euros after the end of the past season will only appear in the 2023/2024 balance sheet.
Watzke is confident that dividends will be paid out to shareholders again next year. “We have put the years of darkness behind us,” he says as CEO.
After reporting the highest sales in the company’s history, Watzke looks back on the pandemic again. “The business model was taken away from us, that was just the way it was,” says the CEO, and he recalled the stock market price of the BVB share, which was over 10 euros before Corona. Today the value is around 4.30 euros.
Signal Iduna Park at full capacity
When presenting the numbers, CFO Thomas Tress emphasized that for the first time all home games at Signal-Iduna-Park were sold out. During the pandemic, some of the games took place in front of empty ranks, later there were significant restrictions on the utilization of the largest German football stadium. Signal Iduna Park can accommodate over 81,000 spectators.
Treß presents improved figures in all areas. In the case of match operations, revenue from tickets climbed from 22.6 to 43.5 million euros, advertising revenue from 126.1 to 142.3 million, with TV marketing BVB now took 157.5 after 145.0 in the previous season million euros. In merchandising, for example the sale of jerseys, sales climbed from 31.8 to 33.4 million euros. At EUR 41.6 million, business with conferences and catering in the stadium saw a significant increase compared to the same period (almost EUR 26 million).
