Here's my translation of an article that provides some insight into the current financial plight of the German federation.
http://de.sports.yahoo.com/07012007/30/deu-praesident-sieht-konkurs-abgewendet.html
DEU President: Bankruptcy is not yet averted
The German Skating Union (DEU) is struggling to survive after its TV contract with ARD [a German television network] expired. “Despite all our efforts, it looks bleak; we have fires burning all around us,” said DEU president Dieter Hillebrand during the German national championships in Oberstdorf.
After four years, ARD let its broadcasting rights lapse at the end of 2006 and is not interested in a new agreement with figure skating. Thus, the financially strapped federation has lost annual income of 125,000 Euros that was used primarily to finance its Munich offices and three employees.
The crisis at the DEU, which had debts of 263,000 Euros when the new executive committee took over last summer, is far from over. It's true that they got 400,000 Euros from the sale of their previous offices, but bankruptcy has not yet been averted, according to Hillebrand. “If we hadn't taken over the DEU, it would not exist today,” asserted the retired police chief of Upper Bavaria. In order to generate income after sponsors have also stayed away because there's no TV presence, the ARD Gala held just before Christmas is to be salvaged and revamped.
Not under consideration is the funding for sports director Udo Dönsdorf, who is paid by monies from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The starving federation will also get support for the establishment of a federal training center for the next generation, for which Ilona Schindler of Erfurt is being considered. [Translator's note: Schindler was Stefan Lindemann's coach until he made the switch to Viola Striegler in Berlin following the Olympics.]
http://de.sports.yahoo.com/07012007/30/deu-praesident-sieht-konkurs-abgewendet.html
DEU President: Bankruptcy is not yet averted
The German Skating Union (DEU) is struggling to survive after its TV contract with ARD [a German television network] expired. “Despite all our efforts, it looks bleak; we have fires burning all around us,” said DEU president Dieter Hillebrand during the German national championships in Oberstdorf.
After four years, ARD let its broadcasting rights lapse at the end of 2006 and is not interested in a new agreement with figure skating. Thus, the financially strapped federation has lost annual income of 125,000 Euros that was used primarily to finance its Munich offices and three employees.
The crisis at the DEU, which had debts of 263,000 Euros when the new executive committee took over last summer, is far from over. It's true that they got 400,000 Euros from the sale of their previous offices, but bankruptcy has not yet been averted, according to Hillebrand. “If we hadn't taken over the DEU, it would not exist today,” asserted the retired police chief of Upper Bavaria. In order to generate income after sponsors have also stayed away because there's no TV presence, the ARD Gala held just before Christmas is to be salvaged and revamped.
Not under consideration is the funding for sports director Udo Dönsdorf, who is paid by monies from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The starving federation will also get support for the establishment of a federal training center for the next generation, for which Ilona Schindler of Erfurt is being considered. [Translator's note: Schindler was Stefan Lindemann's coach until he made the switch to Viola Striegler in Berlin following the Olympics.]
