Dear Borussia Dortmund: Please Reject the European Super League

Dear Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke, President Reinhard Rauball, and the remainder of the Council of Elders:

We, the undersigned staff writers of Fear the Wall, write to you requesting your unequivocal declination of any invitation to participate in the planned competition known as the European Super League (ESL). We believe that participation in the ESL would be antithetical to the club’s history, its purported values, and its status as one of the most respected football clubs in the Bundesliga.

The Bundesliga has a long, storied history, characterized by respect for its working class supporters, quality of play, and a healthy ecosystem of diverse football clubs with proud local traditions. Borussia Dortmund has long represented the Bundesliga’s best qualities. The yellow wall, with its tens of thousands of raucous, bellowing fans, epitomizes better than anything the club’s commitment to the fan-first, working class identity that makes the Bundesliga the best league in the world.

Borussia Dortmund joining the European Super League, in its current form, would do irrevocable damage to the Bundesliga as a whole, let alone the club’s own position within the league. The current structure of the ESL, with its elite ring of founding members enjoying guaranteed spots in the competition, gives a small group of already affluent clubs access to lucrative and permanent financial spoils that would put them at a perennial and unfair advantage over their rivals.

This would cripple proud and historic Bundesliga clubs like Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt, and many others who already face significant financial disadvantages. While BVB could ride through with a guaranteed source of revenue, the remaining clubs would be left to fight for one of only a handful of slots, which they would then have to defend year after year.

Participation in the ESL would tarnish Borussia Dortmund’s reputation as a club that places its fans and the integrity of the Bundesliga over financial gain. It would harm many Bundesliga clubs that have spent years building towards success, and the resulting financial advantage would render any future Bundesliga victories hollow achievements at best. We join the thousands of BVB fans in Dortmund and around the world who have already expressed their discontent, and urge you to decline any invitation to join the ESL, and maintain the character of the league that we have all come to know and love.

Sincerely,

Sean Keyser

Paul Johnson

Nick Gasteiger

Brett R. Bobysud

Mike Solak

Zachary Weilminster

Julia Pobłotzki

Brian Meyers

Sarah Sekac

Sean Marthis

Harrison Lee

Steve Zimmerman

Nick Kapatos

To add your name to this letter, please add your full name or FTW username here.