Gazprom to sponsor Schalke with 125 Million Euro

Russian energy giant Gazprom will become the new main sponsor of Schalke 04 paying at least 100 Million Euro, depending on success even up to 125 Million Euro over 5 years.
For some other leagues this may still sound like peanuts, but for the Bundesliga it means Schalke will equal Bayern's financial strength in the near future.

As a Bremen fan I have a dislike for Schalke and wonder why Schalke get such a big sponsor while Werder Bremen on the other side only get lousy 6 million Euro over 5 years from bwin for playing the best football in the Bundesliga... ...maybe some kind of Vitamin B Schröder?

But apart from that I also wonder what consequences this deal might have for the Bundesliga (in the long run). Will Schalski become a second Bayern, might it even become Germany's new number one club thanks to Russian oil and gas millions like Chelski in the EPL?

Schalke 04: Gazprom lässt den Rubel rollen
http://www.welt.de/data/2006/10/08/1064394.html

Eventhough I have a soft spot for Schalke I think this sucks.. All this money is severly distorting the game and I can only pray that some crazy billionaire doesn't decide to invest in a Spanish team..

Maybe I should mention that Schalke get only with this 25 Million Euro per year from Gazprom almost the same sum which Werder Bremen spends for their whole team per year (about 28 million Euro)...

Is Schalke a plc?

This smacks of a hidden take over bid..

Schalke are a club with potential. (I remember readings ottos post on a similar thread a while back)

They have a decent fan base and a the AOL Arena is a superb stadium. Not only that they have a fair record in Europe a UEFA Cup ein in recent times and CL football in 2001-2002.

It is actually quite similar the Chelsea pre-Abrahmovic.

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:Is Schalke a plc?

What is a plc?

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:This smacks of a hidden take over bid..

You might come to this conclusion, but German law makes it impossible to take over/control a German football club (apart from Dortmund I think) because of their legal form...

Cesc-Fab wrote:Schalke are a club with potential. (I remember readings ottos post on a similar thread a while back)

They have a decent fan base and a the AOL Arena is a superb stadium. Not only that they have a fair record in Europe a UEFA Cup ein in recent times and CL football in 2001-2002.

It is actually quite similar the Chelsea pre-Abrahmovic.

The HSV stadium is called the AOL Arena, what you mean is the Veltins Arena...

PLC - Public Limited Company - Basically a company you can invest in via shares.

chrissicross wrote:

Cesc-Fab wrote:Schalke are a club with potential. (I remember readings ottos post on a similar thread a while back)

They have a decent fan base and a the AOL Arena is a superb stadium. Not only that they have a fair record in Europe a UEFA Cup ein in recent times and CL football in 2001-2002.

It is actually quite similar the Chelsea pre-Abrahmovic.

The HSV stadium is called the AOL Arena, what you mean is the Veltins Arena...

Of course......

Cesc-Fab wrote:PLC - Public Limited Company - Basically a company you can invest in via shares.

Oh, okay, thanks. Schalke is not a plc then. It's what we in Germany call a "eigentragener Verein"="registered association"...
I think the only German club you can invest in via shares is Borussia Dortmund...

Dortmund are the only PLC in Germany?

I suppose it makes sense, most likely they turned into a PLC in 1996/97 on the back of there CL success and try and really establish themselves as a top European club.

I suspect Dortmund are an example of how not to run a PLC, very much like Leeds Utd over here by investing to much in the playing squad and relying on CL football each season. Amoruso 21 million and Rosicky 19 million insane money.

How much are Dortmund in debt now?

Cesc-Fab wrote:Dortmund are the only PLC in Germany?

I suppose it makes sense, most likely they turned into a PLC in 1996/97 on the back of there CL success and try and really establish themselves as a top European club.

I suspect Dortmund are an example of how not to run a PLC, very much like Leeds Utd over here by investing to much in the playing squad and relying on CL football each season. Amoruso 21 million and Rosicky 19 million insane money.

How much are Dortmund in debt now?

It's excactly like you said. Dortmund had debts of about 120 Million Euro and were almost bankrupt, it was more luck than anything else the club survived somehow. Meanwhile it seems they have reduced their debts to about 20 Million Euro (mainly due to an increase of capital though) and things are going much better again...

Don't Schalke have any Kohlmoney anymore? Or did you stopped digging...Anyway would be good move for Schalke, they can finally get themself a proper song when they score But for German footy in general.

Oh no , not a Chelsea like situation(In Budesliga 24-25 m is lot of money per year).
They dont deserve it .
Bad news for teams catching Bayern like Bremen.

Fey wrote:Don't Schalke have any Kohlmoney anymore? Or did you stopped digging...Anyway would be good move for Schalke, they can finally get themself a proper song when they score But for German footy in general.

Lol, what is Kohlmoney?

chrissicross wrote:

Fey wrote:Don't Schalke have any Kohlmoney anymore? Or did you stopped digging...Anyway would be good move for Schalke, they can finally get themself a proper song when they score But for German footy in general.

Lol, what is Kohlmoney?

Coalmoney

BilalShah wrote:Oh no , not a Chelsea like situation(In Budesliga 24-25 m is lot of money per year).
They dont deserve it .
Bad news for teams catching Bayern like Bremen.

Yep, but that's the way it is. The contract will be signed on Tuesday.

I think it might also be bad news for Bayern...it might become much more difficult for them to defend their status as Germany's absolute number one club...

Fey wrote:

chrissicross wrote:

Fey wrote:Don't Schalke have any Kohlmoney anymore? Or did you stopped digging...Anyway would be good move for Schalke, they can finally get themself a proper song when they score But for German footy in general.

Lol, what is Kohlmoney?

Coalmoney

Oh, you mean money from the Coal industry? That was a long long time ago...

chrissicross wrote:

BilalShah wrote:Oh no , not a Chelsea like situation(In Budesliga 24-25 m is lot of money per year).
They dont deserve it .
Bad news for teams catching Bayern like Bremen.

Yep, but that's the way it is. The contract will be signed on Tuesday.

I think it might also be bad news for Bayern...it might become much more difficult for them to defend their status as Germany's absolute number one club...

Yeah probably , but I dont want a big 2 here running away with the league and rest fighting for places in europe.

I really wonder why Gazprom have chosen Schalke; they already have a very good squad they only lack a good management, proper structures and a team that works together and not against each other!!!!

How many different coaches did they have in the last years? And don't tell all of them were rubbish.

I don't think that money will bring them more continuity and consistency they need, but it will increase the pressure to succeed.

And what will happen when they don't succeed? Then I don't see that the deal will go beyond these 5 years and in that case I doubt they will remain competitive in the long run.

If I'm not mistaken last year Schalke had debts in the amount of 110millions Euro so if Schalke invest the money not only in new players but also to reduce their debts then they could benefit from that deal but I don't think those responsible will act like that.
I'm afraid that they will buy more of those selfish and expensive prima donnas who will create even more chaos there only because they want to close the gap to Bayern and Bremen as soon as possible.

Of course to earn 100millions isn't that bad, no club would complain about it, but it doesn't promise you success and especially in the case of Schalke I really doubt they will succeed because in contrast to Bremen or Bayern they too often make the wrong decisions!!!

BTW I always thought Schröder is fan of Hannover 96. Then why didn't he propose them instead of Schalke?

Ballmädchen wrote:
BTW I always thought Schröder is fan of Hannover 96. Then why didn't he propose them instead of Schalke?

I guess because even Gazprom has an image to lose...

Hmmm I guess you are right...

chrissicross wrote:Russian energy giant Gazprom will become the new main sponsor of Schalke 04 paying at least 100 Million Euro, depending on success even up to 125 Million Euro over 5 years.
For some other leagues this may still sound like peanuts, but for the Bundesliga it means Schalke will equal Bayern's financial strength in the near future.

As a Bremen fan I have a dislike for Schalke and wonder why Schalke get such a big sponsor while Werder Bremen on the other side only get lousy 6 million Euro over 5 years from bwin for playing the best football in the Bundesliga... ...maybe some kind of Vitamin B Schröder?

But apart from that I also wonder what consequences this deal might have for the Bundesliga (in the long run). Will Schalski become a second Bayern, might it even become Germany's new number one club thanks to Russian oil and gas millions like Chelski in the EPL?

Schalke 04: Gazprom lässt den Rubel rollen
http://www.welt.de/data/2006/10/08/1064394.html

Sounds like a ton of cash to me. Sporting is getting 6M Euros from Puma over the next 5 years I believe as well. Then we have our other sponcors Portugal Telecom and Banco Espirito Santo, but I'm not sure how much either of these bastards gives us to deface our jerseys.