FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY – JANUARY 15: Christian Seifert, chairman of the DFL, talks to the guest during the DFL new year’s reception at the Thurn und Taxis Palais on January 15, 2013 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images for DFL)

On Saturday afternoon at BlazerCon in Brooklyn, one of the featured guests was Christian Seifert, the CEO of Germany’s Bundesliga. During Seifert’s 45 minute discussion with Roger Bennett of the Men in Blazers, he talked about the rise of the German league across the world, what the Bundesliga brings to the table that other leagues may not, and also briefly touched on the league’s new television deal with Fox in America.

When asked to describe the Bundesliga and compare it to both La Liga and the English Premier League, Seifert said boldly, “the Bundesliga stands for very fast attacking football. For tactical excellence.” He also pointed out that over the last 25 years, the Bundesliga was the highest scoring top league in Europe and averaged 2.75 goals per game in the 2014-15 season.

Seifert also how to keep its clubs focused on their local neighborhoods in addition to expanding their reach abroad. The Bundesliga previously approached television very conservatively – when Seifert joined the league in 2005, the league was only broadcast in 138 countries and their total international rights fees were only around €20 million. Less than a decade later, they were up to €70 million abroad – and that was before their new deal with Fox in the US took effect.

Seifert was complimentary of the Fox deal, saying that he was “very happy” with their new American outlet and that he was “very positive” about the future, also noting that the Bundesliga is much more accessible through Fox than its former outlet, GolTV (which actually was dropped from nearly all American providers prior to the start of last year’s Bundesliga season). He was complimentary towards Fox to their commitment in airing Bayern Munich-Stuttgart (albeit one day tape delayed) on the broadcast network in September, and was more excited about the eight matches set to air on the broadcast network in 2016. Among the matches airing will be Bayer Leverkusen-Bayern Munich on February 6th

He also sees America and the rest of the world as an opportunity for the Bundesliga, noting that “we have to be there because all of the others are there” while also mentioning the growing diversity of the league – numerous Japanese national players are currently playing with Bundesliga sides, along with joint leading goal scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Gabon, Arturo Vidal from Chile, and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez from Mexico. That growing diversity helped spur the Bundesliga to improve their international broadcast contracts and caused the league to become more active on social media.

Chicharito has also caused a bit of a spike in the Bundesliga’s interest in North America, especially on Fox Deportes – Bayer Leverkusen’s matches are averaging 66,000 viewers on the Spanish language network since he joined the side. As context, consider that exactly zero Bundesliga matches on Fox Deportes this year *not* involving Leverkusen have drawn more than 38,000 viewers.

But why should American fans tune into the Bundesliga over the Premier League or Serie A? Seifert had solid reasoning.

“The Bundesliga is the best of both worlds. England is playing very physical and very fast. Italy plays very tactically, and there are maybe less goals. The Bundesliga is a little bit of both. The style of play is very well-known. We say in our international claims, ‘more fans, more goals, more football’.”

In the decade Seifert has been at the helm of the Bundesliga, the league has made tremendous gains both domestically and internationally. The attractive, exciting style of soccer has captivated numerous fans across the globe, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Bundesliga continue to surge in popularity in the States going forward.

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

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