Nothing new really, but I actually forgot two clubs on my last list. And since I hate it when this happens I just HAVE to post the complete thing 2008 - Gladbeck, no license 2008 - Erkenschwick, insolvency 2008 - Yesilyurt Berlin, insolvency - club folded 2008 - Bayreuth, no license 2009 - Sachsen Leipzig, insolvency 2009 - Altona 93, no license 2009 - Kickers Emden, no 3. Liga or RL license 2009 - Oggersheim, no license 2009 - Aschaffenburg, no license 2009 - Großbardorf, no license 2009 - Bentwisch, voluntarily relegated 2010 - TeBe Berlin, insolvency 2010 - Rostock II, voluntarily relegated 2010 - RW Essen, no license 2010 - Bonn, insolvency 2010 - Waldhof Mannheim, no license 2010 - Reutlingen, insolvency 2010 - Bamberg, insolvency - club folded 2010 - Germania Leer, inolvency 2010 - Aschaffenburg, insolvency 2010 - SV Bad Rothenfelde, no license 2010 - Preußen Hameln, no license - club folded a year later 2011 - TuS Koblenz, no license 2011 - Sachsen Leipzig, insolvency - club folded 2011 - RW Ahlen, no 3. Liga or RL license 2011 - SSV Ulm, insolvency 2011 - SpVgg Weiden, insolvency - club folded 2011 - Windeck, voluntarily relegated 2011 - Wegberg-Beeck, no license 2011 - Erkenschwick, no license 2011 - 1. FC Kleve, insolvency 2012 - Türkiyemspor, insolvency 2012 - Gera 03, insolvency 2012 - Borea Dresden, voluntarily relegated midseason for financial reasons 2012 - VfL Kirchheim, voluntarily relegated midseason for financial reasons 2012 - Eintracht Nordhorn, insolvency 2012 - Kickers Emden, insolvency
lower costs for travels to away games nice and great but 90 k tv money and relegation games for the champions won't make it easier to leave the grave that is the 4th division. the inclusion of relegation games is another topic to talk about in itself. if there is one instrument to see that they are trying to shut off the lower division clubs it's this one imo.
Regionalliga clubs get no TV money from next season one (as in nothing at all). That's not caused by the reform, though - even with only three RLs there'd be no TV income anymore. A promotion play-off in itself isn't all that bad - Germany always had those until the mid-90s. The problem is that by now clubs need promotion to survive and losing a play-off might cause a club to go under in the future, which wasn't as extreme in the past.
I think 18 team league is more entertaining than 20. I can see the higher revenue angle of having 20 teams, but less excitement. I think most would agree that one thing that makes leagues boring is having a bunch of mid table teams who by mid-March have nothing to fight for. Consider that the Bundesliga this year has 10 spots that are exciting to fight for: 3 relegation and 7 European spots. That's more spots than those that mean nothing (8). For example, with my team Nurnberg we have basically played like a mid table team all year but I think it's still been an engrossing year because in 95% of the match days we've been either very close to relegation or Europa league. Many times I can recall thinking to myself during a match "If we lose this, then we are seriously in the relegation fight. But if we win this, we're right in the Europa League hunt." Contrast this with the 20 team leagues where most leagues only have 9 or 10 spots that are exciting so it just means more mid table clubs with nothing to play for. France is the worst b/c two cup competitions and they only get 6 european spots. There can be years where only 7 places mean anything (3 relegation and 4 Europe) so that's 13 places with no implications, which means you'll have a bunch of cruise-control mid tablers who are unmotivated and disinterested for the last 2 months of the season. In the Premier League, I would say Everton, Sunderland, Fulham, Liverpool, Norwich, Stoke, Swansea, West Brom have essentially had nothing to play for in the league for 1.5 months. Europe is too far off and so is relegation. The players are less interested, the stadiums less full, the fans less passionate. It creates a weaker experience. In the Bundesliga, can you think of 1 team who has been safe from relegation but had no chance of Europe for the past month? I can't.
Interesting that this came up again last year: https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/34syuy/mainz_official_suggests_bundesliga_with_20_teams/ http://www.espnfc.us/blog/espn-fc-u...an-bundesliga-struggles-with-expansion-debate I understand the reasoning for 18, but what about just the Bundesliga 2 expansion to 20? I think that would provide some more games / income for those teams, which could be good. 3. Liga already has 20. Either way, I support relgation/promotion playoffs between each league (currently #16 vs #3). And if either level did go to 20 teams (which i agree might not be that likely in the Bundesliga), I could see playoffs involving #17 vs #4 (& maybe #18, #3), which I believe should be the way in that case....just as I think should even be the case between 2. Bundesliga & 3. Liga currently (up to 4 teams possibly moving up/down).