Germany’s Bundesliga kicks off with American headliners, but has an uncertain future on U.S. TV

Around here, the middle of August is time for getting down the Shore as much as possible before the school year starts. But in Europe, it’s time for the world’s biggest soccer leagues to get back to work.

This coming weekend, England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, and France’s Ligue 1 will begin their new seasons. The weekend after, Italy’s Serie A and Germany’s Bundesliga will join the fray. And some leagues have already started, including in Scotland, the Netherlands, and lower divisions in England, France, and Germany.

As it’s the last campaign before the World Cup, there will be even more American eyes on those circuits than usual, with many U.S. national team players competing to make the big stage. But one of the leagues already has an eye on the future.

The Bundesliga is entering the last year of a six-year deal with ESPN worth around $30 million per season. Every game is streamed on ESPN+, with some broadcast on TV too.

Two years ago, ESPN signaled it wanted to renew, but the network hasn’t said much publicly since. Last year, the league signed a 17-year marketing deal with big American soccer promoter Relevent, and Relevent will lead the negotiations.

It’s a significant time to be on the market, on a few levels. But the Bundesliga’s next deal will be done before the World Cup, so the league won’t be able to fully capitalize on whatever spike in interest the tournament creates. Interest should grow leading up to the tournament, because the league has long been a top port of call for Americans abroad.

Eleven U.S. players are on Bundesliga first-team squads as of this week, headlined by Bayer Leverkusen’s $41 million acquisition of Malik Tillman this summer. There’s also Joe Scally at Borussia Mönchengladbach, Medford’s Paxten Aaronson at Eintracht Frankfurt, and Gio Reyna at Borussia Dortmund, at least for now. (Reyna is expected to leave, but hasn’t yet.)

» READ MORE: Eintracht Frankfurt values Paxten Aaronson for the season heading into the World Cup

Dortmund, Frankfurt, Leverkusen, and perennial power Bayern Munich are also in the Champions League this season (which CBS has the rights to). Bayern’s big names include forwards Harry Kane and Luis Díaz, and Canadian defender Alphonso Davies.

German soccer doesn’t generate as much worldwide broadcast revenue as the Premier League — which leads that race by a long way — or La Liga, with giants Barcelona and Real Madrid. So executives there might be inclined to seek a deal that brings more money even if it means less traditional exposure.

Where do things stand right now? Robin Austermann, executive vice president of the Bundesliga’s Americas division, gave The Inquirer some insights.

“For sure, our clubs expect revenues from us,” Austermann said. “But what we definitely want to achieve [is] also we’re looking for the best partner, and it’s not just for the sake of saying that. We are really looking for someone who is committed as we are.”

» READ MORE: Why Germany has long been the top destination for American players heading to Europe

That was one of a few instances where he took the money-vs.-distribution question head-on.

“It’s always some kind of a trade-off between revenues and reach,” he said. “But definitely looking for the best possible partner who brings us to the next level in terms of overall brand value. We would never say that we are not interested in revenues here — that’s one of the key goals for sure — but also, having this long-term approach in mind is super-important for us, and not just short-term revenues.”

Austermann said the Bundesliga is “really satisfied with ESPN as a partner,” but the league wants “to make sure that we are also seen across different forms of distribution,” including social media platforms and other content partners.

“We know how competitive the market is, not just in terms of the media rights, but also in terms of the time of the consumer,” he said. “We know that we’re not just competing against La Liga, Premier League, Serie A, we are competing with the domestic sports in the U.S.”

» READ MORE: How a former Philly community newspaper editor became an agent of change in global soccer

An ESPN spokesperson declined comment on the network’s behalf.

Austermann noted that it’s not just ESPN’s deal that expires after this season. All of the Bundesliga’s rights deals for the Americas are up, so the league is looking at broader deals along with country-by-country ones. It also has a content studio for the Americas in Guadalajara, Mexico, along with a commercial office in New York, and it would like the next broadcaster’s help in getting that content out.

“Exposure for us is super-important, but that doesn’t mean necessarily that all the matches have to be on linear TV,” he said. “It can be also a streaming player combined with different areas. … We are not just producing that [regional content] for ourselves, we want to produce that content for our media partner to tell that story.”

Some fans will wonder if DAZN, which jumped into the U.S. market with the Club World Cup this summer, fits that bill. DAZN is already a Bundesliga rightsholder in Germany and other countries, and has long been a bigger deal elsewhere than it is here.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia shone in the soccer world like never before during the Club World Cup

This coming season, the platform will add some Spanish-language Serie A and Champions League broadcasts to its package. But while the Club World Cup (and the women’s Champions League before it) were shown free of charge, the games to come will be behind DAZN’s $30 a month paywall, or $20 a month with an annual subscription.

It’s hard to believe many American viewers would pay that much for the Bundesliga, or for any soccer league.

Asked specifically about DAZN, Austermann said: “Even though DAZN isn’t completely new, it’s looking into a new market and picking up some rights, which is good to have competition. … It’s really too early to tell, honestly — not just for the sake of the interview — to speak about specific players right now. We are not that advanced into negotiations right now.”

A DAZN spokesperson declined comment.

When Eintracht Frankfurt came to town to play the Union earlier this month, CEO Axel Hellmann added his own thoughts on the subject. He said the league had begun negotiations with ESPN and “are talking about two others,” including CBS Sports. A CBS spokesperson declined comment.

» READ MORE: Eintracht Frankfurt ‘would love to have the Eagles’ the next time the NFL goes to Germany

“It is necessary to have that connection — it’s too early to say where we are, but of course we started to talk,” Hellmann said. “I, in general, more believe that going into a free TV partnership could, for the Bundesliga, make more sense to spread the product to the people. But of course there are always economic reasons that need us to go into partnership with pay TV or streaming platforms, to have a certain amount of money for internationalization.”

Beyond that, he said he’d defer to Relevent, “because they know the market in better detail than I do. But I tell you one thing, we are not limited in our thoughts.”