Kaiserslautern, one of the legendary Bundesliga side, has been in a major financial doo-doo for some time now.
Did they have that funky stadium mortgage thingy, and then the problem with Klose (unreal payment) situation? If so, that was truly bizarre/awful, since they have always had good support (how could they muck it up so bad?)
The same reason 3 past board members are going to jail. They broke the law and drove the team into debt. That is what caused them to sell the stadium and sell Klose's rights to the state lottery. They have almost turned it around.
They are full pro - everyone who doesn't play Bundesliga is considered amateur in Germany, doesn't matter if (or how much) he's payed. And btw, the Regionalliga is not the Bundesliga's 3rd division. It has a different governing body and doesn't fall under BL regulations.
I have always been curious about the designation of "semi-pro". What does it mean? In my parlance you are paid and, therefore, a professional or un-paid and you remain an amateur. Semi-pro seems to denote "not good enough, developing and or young." Do any of these catagories actual mean half-paid, half-baked or half-assed?
I take it to mean paid a stipend, but not enough to live on. This used to be the case for all but the most elite US atheletes. There are still semi-pro teams in many sports. I suppose it could also mean teams which field a mix of pro and amateurs, where only some get paid but not all. This could be the case for a team that can only afford a few pro players or clubs that pay some and then have players who need to remain amateur for some reason, like college eligibility.
Yes it is. They have some different licensing rules, but for all intensive purposes are a 3rd division. In fact there are more than 14 levels.
It's Germany's third division. The Bundesliga consists of exactly 36 teams in 2 divisions. Does Rochester play in MLS-2? There are more than 20 levels actually (not everywhere of course).