Copyright cityam
The man behind Baller League has said a $100m cheque will not be enough to buy a seat at its investment table. The indoor, six-a-side football competition, was founded in Germany but has since moved to the United Kingdom with plans to expand Stateside. The likes of Mats Hummels and Lukas Podolski were early Baller League backers, while private equity giant EQT Ventures is now on board. This bullish investment structure, chief executive Felix Starck tells City AM, means simply having cash is no longer enough to get a seat at the cap table. “We’re not looking for cash,” he said ahead of tomorrow’s season two kick-off. “We’re looking for strategic partners who know how to build consumer brands. “I’m talking about merchandise and ticketing. So if you have expertise in media strategy we’re going to talk to you. “A $100m cheque is not going to get me to talk to you. We can raise that intrinsically with our cap table within one day.” Baller League mean business Season two team managers include former England player John Terry, Lioness Chloe Kelly, YouTubers Miniminter and Niko Omilana and Luther star Idris Elba. Starck says the broadcast – across Sky Sports, X, Twitch and other platforms – reaches 3m people, while he claims the firm will maintain its current ownership structure – where he is in charge without a board. The majority of the broadcast audience, 80 per cent, are 20-35-year-olds and Starck says that’s the point – they’re not targeting the “55-year-old white man”. “I know what the 55-year-old white man is going to say: this is ruining football,” Starck adds. “I hate to break it to you but football is broken already and it’s not us breaking it. “We’re not taking away your 11-a-side. If you keep supporting it, if you keep paying your crazy monthly fees to subscription and to ticket prices, keep going. “We don’t need [11-a-side football’s] money to keep running, we don’t need their crazy ticket prices. We don’t need their crazy subscription fees. So if you want to hate on that, while they all have betting partners on the front of their jerseys [then] cool. That’s advertised betting to 18-year-olds. Really cool.” 20,000 fans packed out the O2 Arena earlier this year for the Baller League finals event, which saw SDS FC – YouTuber Sharky – beat MVPs United – footballer Alisha Lehmann and TV personality Maya Jama – 4-3 to lift the inaugural UK title. Early rounds are hosted at Stratford’s Copper Box Arena with the domed Greenwich venue staging the final. Tickets are still available and cost £14.75.
