BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke: Without ghost games, the whole Bundesliga “drains away”

Watzke: “We don’t want a special position in the beginning”

9:09 a.m. In an interview with “Sky”, Hans-Joachim Watzke defended the planned continuation of the Bundesliga without spectators. “We don’t want a special position,” said the managing director of Borussia Dortmund, “but we want to pursue our professions.”

If the game does not resume in the coming months, “the whole Bundesliga will be drained,” Watzke said. Then the Bundesliga “will no longer exist in the form we have known.”

The German Football League (DFL) is hoping for a resumption of the season from May. Ghost games are expected to play the remaining nine playing days in the first two leagues. To this end, it has presented a medical concept.

They don’t want “state aid and nothing at all,” Watzke said. “We have developed a concept that costs us a lot of money. But we are doing everything we can to get back into our profession. We don’t want a special position, definitely not, but we don’t want to be disadvantaged,” the 60-year-old said. He understands the criticism of many fan groups, some of whom had vehemently opposed ghost games. But it is not a matter of a small thing, but “about saving football”.

NBA team training facilities to reopen to pros

8:50 a.m. According to media reports, basketball pros from the North American professional league NBA will soon be allowed to re-enter the training facilities of their teams – under certain conditions. If local government regulations don’t prohibit it, professionals will be able to train there on a voluntary basis starting Friday, as reported by the AP and ESPN news agencies. However, team training is still not allowed.

Alternative solutions are reportedly to be found for teams from cities where the so-called “stay-at-home orders” continue to apply. Several players currently do not have access to basketball baskets or gyms.

The NBA season has been suspended for nearly seven weeks. Commissioner Adam Silver had repeatedly stressed that a decision could not be made until May at the earliest on whether the season could be completed. There is currently no fixed date on when a decision will be made.