The Bayern model compared to other teams has something different: it goes beyond the moods and approximate considerations. In fact, even if we witnessed some real sporting disasters, the latter would still be a winning system from all points of view: sporting, commercial, political. This article does not say it, the numbers say it. If Barcelona have to go into debt and risk collapse to keep Messi, if PSG needs the capital increases of Sheikh Al-Khelaïfi to buy Neymar and Mbappè, Bayern thinks about all other logics whose lowest common denominator responds to a single word: solidity.
Bayern’s financial statements has been in profit for 29 consecutive years (source: ilsole24ore). This means Bayern spends a lot but earns even more. The only top tier team that can boast the title of the best FFP. How do you repeat this goal? Not by investing (only) in players, but in assets (structures, stadium, merchandising, collaborations) of sure enhancement (a player can enhance himself but also not).
The Allianz Arena is the spearhead of Bayern Munich’s heritage. A stadium that invoices and produces wealth even when there are no matches scheduled. Restaurants, beauty centers, museums, Bayern branded shops, which have an annual turnover of 50 million euros (excluding, in fact, the transactions involving the strictly sporting aspect), otherwise a few more zeroes must be added to this figure.
In Munich they are pioneers of a new way of understanding football also at a commercial and marketing level: the main sponsors of Bayern, in fact, are also small shareholders of the club. The professional team is managed by FC Bayern Munchen Ag, whose shares were revised in 2014: 75% are held by the parent company, while 8.33% each is owned by Adidas, the club’s main sponsor and technical supplier, Audi and Allianz who also gives the stadium its name. The three giants respectively have paid out 77, 90 and 110 million euros to enter the company in recent years. A commercial synergy that strengthens everyone.
Bayern do not have the economic strength of Manchester City, PSG, Barca, Chelsea and, given their virtuous economic conduct, they know how to take a step back when the auction for a player gets dangerously high. No charm dictated by the media appeal of some players. Yet, thanks to the coat of arms, thanks in any case to a respectable portfolio, he still manages to grab the best talents in the world. The dense network of scouting, in fact, allows him to secure the most promising players one step away from consecration (especially from the median down, which historically records less exorbitant prices on the market but which, like the offensive players, are fundamental to confer structure to a winning team). Pavard, Thiago, Lucas Hernandez, Jerome Boateng. Some sometimes even overpaid, see Javi Martinez. In addition, which will make them unpleasant to many, he plunders the domestic market by exploiting its appeal and its political strength by appropriating the best talents of the Bundesliga: Lewandowski (even taken to zero), Kimmich (8.5 million), Goretzka (0), Sule (20).
What is certain is that Bayern are never interested in the very first pages of world newspapers nor have they ever had the need to have the hottest star to enchant in Europe. They are concrete, they pay attention to the point. They are German. And they almost always take the lens home. This allowed him to structure an economic and sporting model that today sets the standard (it is said that AC Milan also wants to replicate this model). In short, that of Bayern is not a fairy tale, but a very concrete reality.
