Bundesliga head says security a concern ahead of World Cup in South Africa

Bundesliga head says WCup security a concern

NEW YORK — The head of the Bundesliga says Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness was only admitting what many think privately when he cited security in South Africa as an issue ahead of this year’s World Cup.

Hoeness was quoted last month in the Muenchner Merkur as saying it was a mistake by FIFA to put the World Cup in South Africa and that he won’t travel there for the tournament, which opens June 11.

“Maybe Uli Hoeness’ words were a little bit tough. But on the other hand, I guess he just spoke out what a lot people feel when they’re thinking about going over to South Africa or not,” Bundesliga chief executive officer Christian Seifert said Friday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

In Miami to attend the Super Bowl, Seifert said he hopes the World Cup will be a success but he understands how expensive it has become to travel to the tournament.

“It’s not to discuss just from the FIFA executives’ perspective of the Bundesliga executives’ perspective,” he said. “You also have to see it with the eyes of the fans who come over, who have to pay a lot of money. Prices are rising high from airlines and from hotels.”

He said South African companies should revisit their pricing.

“They should maybe think about less in profit but more in terms of chance. This FIFA World Cup is for the people,” Seifert said. “If this is such a political issue and such a big chance for a whole continent, then all involved parties have to work together there. That (includes) airlines and hotels and security and whatever.”

In a newly released report, the Bundesliga said it averaged a Europe-high 41,904 fans last season, topping England’s Premier League (35,592), Spain’s Premier Division (28,478), Italy’s Serie A (25,304) and France’s Ligue 1 (21,034). The 26 teams in the German first and second divisions combined for 2 billion euros in revenue for the first time last season at 2.036 billion euros ($2.79 billion at the current exchange rate), up 5.3 percent from the previous season. Media revenue rose to 594 million euros ($813 million).

The Bundesliga also said its average ticket price of 20.79 euros ($28.48) was the lowest among the major European leagues, with the Premier League the highest at 43 euros ($58.91), followed by the Primera Division at 40 euros ($54.80), Serie A at 27 ($37) and Ligue 1 at 26 ($35.62).

While Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore in 2008 proposed playing regular-season matches abroad — a plan since put on hold — Seifert has no plans to move Bundesliga games. He is willing to expand foreign exhibitions.

“But for a real game, which is important maybe if you reach the Champions League or not, I can hardly imagine that for the Bundesliga,” he said.

Seifert realizes the Bundesliga is at a disadvantage when it comes to U.S. television. The Premier League is carried on Fox Soccer Channel, which is available in 36.1 million homes, according to Nielsen Media Research, and has some games on ESPN2, which is distributed to 98.8 million households.

The Bundesliga is on GolTV, which is in 12 million households. It likes its deal with the network, which runs through the 2011-12, because GolTV carries programming in addition to games, such as highlights shows.

“When we started to work with GolTV, the Bundesliga had decayed, where they just hadn’t focused so much on international TV partners,” said Seifert, who became CEO in 2005. “The Bundesliga missed a chance in the past to strengthen the brand in the United States. When we started again to focus more on the countries outside of Germany, we saw that yes there was interest but we don’t see a passion for a league like the Bundesliga. Therefore, we found the concept of GolTV very, very interesting.”