The master class of top managers of FC "Rapid"

Top-managers of the football club "Rapid" (Vienna), arrived in Moscow with the football team on the game against "Spartak" in a group stage of UEFA Europe League, have given the master-class for students and graduates of faculty "Sport Industry Management". Michael Krammer (President of the club), Christoph Peschek (General manager), Martin Bruckner (Chief financial officer) and Andy Marek (Head of the organizational department (Club service & Events)) took part in the lesson.

In particular, they talked about the importance of the recent commissioning of the new stadium for the club. «Last year, our budget revenues amounted to 43 million euros. And the new arena, its commercial name — "Allianz", has brought us nearly half of this money — it is around 18 million: I am talking now about the income received directly on the days of matches, as well as from not-sports events-conferences, exhibitions, corporate events, and so on, — said Michael Krammer. — If we compare this with the revenues from our previous stadium, "Gerhard Hanappi", they have now almost doubled. Why is the difference so great? First of all, we did not own that stadium, we had to rent it from the Vienna municipality. And secondly, and most importantly, "Allianz" — it's just a qualitatively different level of convenience, comfort, security, and, accordingly, other opportunities for income". Answering the question, how much does it cost the club to build a new arena, Christoph Peschek said: "The total amount is 55 million euros. Of these, 20 million is the club's funds, and 35 we received a loan from the city government. If we talk about the maturity dates, in the next five years we will fully pay off our obligations".