Why Red Bull Owns a Football Team

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In 2023, Red Bull sold one and a  half cans for every person on the   planet. That’s more than 12 billion cans per year. But, as the avid Athletic Interest viewer knows,   Red Bull does much more than  selling an energy drink. They own two Formula 1  teams, two Ice Hockey teams,   sponsor thousands of athletes, and  let them compete in crazy events. They spend A LOT of money on marketing. Their  budgets can compete with the likes of Nike,   Pepsi or McDonalds. But those are much  bigger companies. So relatively speaking,   nobody spends more on marketing than Red Bull. But is all that really just marketing? If you dig a little deeper, you find  that at one point in their history,   Red Bull changed their strategy.  And it was an unlikely change. Red Bull got big by focusing on extreme sports.  Jumping from space, driving fast cars, bikes,   and whatever this is. The more extreme, the better  for Red Bull. Traditional sports? Too boring. Until the founder had a conversation  that would change the Red Bull brand   forever. And led them to become one of  the most influential companies in the   most popular sport in the world. And  one of the most controversial ones. Welcome to Athletic Interest and  why Red Bull owns a football club.  In the summer of 1982, the Austrian businessman  Dietrich Mateschitz found himself suffering from   jet lag during a business trip to Thailand.  He tried a local drink called Krating Daeng,   which improved his jet lag substantially.  Krating Daeng can be translated to Red Gaur,   a huge bison from Southeast Asia.  So it basically means Red Bull. Inspired by the magical qualities  of the product, Mateschitz decided   to bring it home in the format of a brand  new product category – the energy drink. Potential investors told Mateschitz  that there was no market for the   product. So he decided to create one. Mateschitz adapted the formula and flavor   for the European market and successfully  launched the product in Austria in 1987.   Because the drink was initially banned  in Germany, Red Bull profited from the   reputation as an outlaw brand. Many Young  Germans would cross the border to Austria   to buy the banned drink, and Red Bull sold  over a million cans in their first year. From Austria, it quickly spread across Europe,  first to Slovakia and Hungary in '92 and then   to Germany and the UK in ‘94. When they  entered the US market three years later,   Red Bull was selling over  a million cans every day. The secret ingredient for this success has always  been Red Bull’s unique corporate structure. Red   Bull itself doesn’t actually produce the drink -  production and filling of the cans is outsourced,   so Red Bull can fully commit its  resources to selling the drink. And that’s something that Red Bull has mastered. Initially, the focus was on the club scene. Jaeger   shots with Red Bull. Those weird  Mini cars outside of University. But clubbing is a relatively  small business. Red Bull wanted   to go global. And Mateschitz understood  that Red Bull needed something bigger   to grow the brand. As an avid sports fan  himself, he turned to sports marketing.  But there was a problem. Red Bull didn’t  exactly fit in at Wimbledon or a golf   tournament. An outlaw brand trying  to create an entirely new category   of drink didn't mix with traditional sports.  So Red Bull decided to create its own sport. The Red Bull Dolomitenmann. An  extreme relay race with four   unique physical tests: run, fly, bike, and kayak. It was the beginning of a  new strategy for Red Bull.   If it couldn’t find a sport that aligned  with its values, it simply invented one. 92’ was the first year of the so called Flugtag,   where people jump off high platforms  strapped to homemade flying machines.  Or in 2000, when Red Bull launched the soapbox. A  race through city streets with homemade vehicles. Red Bull ripped up the sports marketing  playbook. It wasn’t even trying to convince   you that it was good for you. Red Bull is  fun and exciting. So, those are the sports   it aligned with. The brand had the YOLO  vibe before the acronym was even invented. But there was still one major sport that Red  Bull went into that was not niche - although   also extreme: Formula 1. Austrian driver Gerhard  Berger became the first Red Bull athlete in 89’.   In 95’ Red Bull started sponsoring the Sauber F1  team. In 2004 they purchased the Jaguar team. And   Red Bull Racing has since become one of the  most successful Formula 1 teams in history. These sports all have one thing in  common: they look spectacular and   create spectacular content. This content  is packaged and distributed by Red Bull's   own in-house media team. While most brands have  to invest a lot in paid media to get any reach,   Red Bull's channels are among the most popular  in sports with millions of organic views. This is another benefit of Red Bull's extreme  sports strategy. You cannot show highlights of   Wimbledon or the FIFA World Cup on your  brand accounts. Because the broadcasting   rights are usually sold exclusively and  for billions of dollars. But if you own   the event and you've invented the sport anyway,  you can use the content however you like. That means that for a long time, a sport like  football didn't fit the Red Bull model. Too slow,   too expensive, and too little adrenaline. So Red Bull stayed out of it. Until one day,   everything changed. And ironically, it  was Bayern Munich who changed their mind.  Speaking of changing other people’s minds. One of the questions we get the most is   how we do the research for our videos.  There’s so much information out there   that can be hard to verify. Especially with  the impact of algorithms and filter bubbles.  That’s where our sponsor, Ground News, comes  into play. Designed by a former NASA engineer,   Ground News helps you navigate the crowded  field of global media and identify media bias.  It compiles articles from over 50,000 sources  worldwide, letting you see how different media   outlets cover the same story. You can learn  more by going to ground.news/athleticinterest   to experience it for yourself. Take a look at this story about Red Bull for   example. It was covered by more than 97 sources.  Of those 97 sources, 3120% lean left and 3019%   lean right, showing that there is equal interest  from both sides of the political spectrum. But   using the bias comparison you can quickly  identify that the headlines do use different   language. While the center is using explanatory  wording and keeps it very factual, both the   left and the right use more loaded words and  include personal details about Horner’s family.  Ground News also shows the raw stats—like  media bias, factual reliability,   and even the ownership of the source. This makes biases more transparent and   helps you think critically about the information  you consume. It’s not only helpful for research   but also a mission that we genuinely support! Curious to see how it works? Visit   ground.news/athleticinterest and get an  exclusive 40% off their Vantage plan.  It all went down in the cozy, little, town  of Salzburg, Austria right next to the Alps.   This is where Dietrich Mateschitz met with his  good friend, football icon Franz Beckenbauer.   A World Cup winner both as a player and a  coach, Beckenbauer left his mark on German   football like no other. At the time of their  meeting, he was president of Bayern Munich. And in Salzburg, with its picture-perfect  views, Beckenbauer gave Mateschitz a   game-changing piece of advice. If you really  want to make a splash in sports marketing,   football is where your money should go.  Taking this to heart, Mateschitz didn't   just step into the world of football; he dived  in headfirst. Red Bull started buying clubs. First, Mateschitz settled on the small  Austrian club of Austria Salzburg. He   re-named the club Red Bull Salzburg. The  club now plays in the Red Bull Arena,   its colours are red and white and its  club crest contains the Red Bull logo. Beckenbauer claimed that Mateschitz would  have given up without his support. And that   the EUROs in 2008 only came to Austria,  because of Red Bull. He should've known,   he was the one bringing the World  Cup to Germany two years before that. Bayern Munich even provided expertise and  players in the early days. Aging stars   moved from Munich to Salzburg. Hansi  Flick even joined the coaching staff. At this point, nobody really took the  project too seriously. The press called   the Salzburg club a Bavarian sausage  outlet. But this would change soon. A few years later, Beckenbauer told Mateschitz  to buy another club, but this time in Germany. From The Alps to Saxony SSV Markranstädt, a fifth tier club in  Leipzig. The club colours were changed   to red and white. The stadium was renamed  the Red Bull Arena. Red Bull also tried to   change the name to Red Bull Leipzig but was  blocked by the football authorities. So they   went for RasenBallSport - which literally  means Grass Ball Sport - Leipzig instead. These changes were controversial. Leipzig locals   even formed their own protest team to  preserve the old vision of the club. Red Bull took things a step further  when RB Leipzig joined the Bundesliga   just seven years later. The 50 Plus one  rule requires members of Bundesliga clubs   to hold 50 percent, plus one more  vote, of the club’s voting rights. It's important to understand that this is deeply  rooted in German society. When you want to do any   kind of sport in Germany, you become a member  of a sports club. Whether you want to do it   just for fun, or on a professional level. Sports  are organized in clubs. Also in the Bundesliga.   That means that the members of the clubs have a  say and can vote on the most important decisions. But Red Bull wanted to retain full control over  their club. So, Red Bull priced membership at   one thousand euros per year. Compared to 60  EUR at Bayern Munich. Red Bull also retained   the right to block any potential member. So they  started with only 7 members, all of them being   employees or lawyers associated with Red Bull.  This number has grown to 23 today, but that's   still nothing compared to the more than 300.000  members that Bayern officials need to report to. So this is one thing that Red Bull is doing  differently than Bayern. But they still have   a special relationship, even after both  Mateschitz and Beckenbauer passed away. And the time of the Bavarian sausage  outlet is over. More and more often,   the clubs meet as equals. Bayern is no longer sending   their aged players to Salzburg, but buying the  best talents from Leipzig. Upamecano, Sabitzer,   Laimer. Even Julian Nagelsmann as coach  and later Max Eberl as sporting director. Bayern has created its own strongest competitor.  Leipzig has become one of Germany's best teams.   Playing in the Champions League almost  every season and winning the Cup twice.  And yet, many fans in Germany hate the club  because of its strong ties to Red Bull. When Leipzig plays Eintracht Frankfurt,  Eintracht refuses to show Leipzig’s logo   anywhere in its stadium. When Leipzig first  traveled to Union Berlin, the page in Berlin’s   programme usually dedicated to the visiting club  was replaced with information about Bull breeding. Many fans would probably be even more upset  if they knew that the club they hate the most   only exists because of the club they  hate the second most: Bayern Munich. But besides the fierce competition,  behind the scenes, there are close   ties. Like Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeneß had a  close relationship with Mateschitz as well.  His nephew Sebastian Hoeneß, the current coach   of VfB Stuttgart Sebastian Hoeneß,  worked in Leipzig's youth academy. Outside of football, the competitors are  even cooperating. Red Bull is currently   building a multifunctional arena in Munich's  Olympiapark, which will not only be home to its   own ice hockey club Red Bull Munich, but  also to Bayern Munich's basketball team.  The first plans for this were made around ten  years ago. But they only became concrete after   Hoeneß served his sentence for tax evasion in  prison. When he came back from prison, one of   the first letters he received was from Mateschitz,  welcoming him back and offering to work together   anytime. Hoeneß was deeply moved by the gesture  and knew "that this was the right partner". It is likely that in the future, Red Bull will  more often be the enemy than a partner. Because   they have one thing that Bayern doesn't have. And again, Beckenbauer was involved. Because   besides Salzburg and Leipzig, Beckenbauer told  Mateschitz to buy another club when Mateschitz   wanted to go west. And for Beckenbauer it  was clear, that if you have the chance to   buy a team in the United States, there's only  one destination: New York. He had played there   himself and still knew what was going on in the  city - so he decided to help Mateschitz out again. Mateschitz bought the MLS franchise for 100m  dollars. The price included buying half of the   stadium in New Jersey and its naming rights: Red  Bull Park. Even Henry played there for a while. Now let's take a step back and  look at this with perspective.   Mateschitz and his friend Beckenbauer put Red  Bull on the football map. Having teams in Austria,   Germany and the United States. But Red Bull didn't  stop there and also expanded to Brazil and Ghana. Today, RB Leipzig is at the center of a web of Red  Bull-owned clubs. Red Bull uses this network to   develop talent. A player can start out in Brazil,  move to Salzburg to develop his talent and then   play in the Champions League with Leipzig. When  retirement is close, he can head off to New York. While Red Bull is not the first to develop  this strategy, it was the first to see results. Red Bull’s secret ingredient was the  close synergy between these clubs. The HR,   Finance and Marketing for every club is  run by one central board. They have all   adopted the same playing style. They  share the same coaches and methods.   The clubs even have the same colours  and all play in the Red Bull arena. The idea is that a player or coach  can be dropped in any club within the   network and instantly feel at home.  This cuts down development time. The quicker and stronger a player develops,   the faster they are able to strengthen the RB  Leipzig squad, or get sold on for a profit. Dominik Szoboszlai moved through  the Red Bull system and helped RB   Leipzig to two Cup victories. He was then  sold to Liverpool for 70 million euros. The multi-club ownership model is so successful,  more and more teams are trying to copy it.   180 clubs are now involved in multi-club  networks. 5 times more than 10 years ago. This includes 6,500 players who  are employed by multi-club teams.   Hundreds are traded within these  networks every transfer window. But not everyone loves it. Owning more than one team can create  conflicts of interest. In the Red Bull Group,   Leipzig is the top of the pyramid. It will  get the best players, the biggest investment,   and the greater attention. While at a national  level, Salzburg and Bragantino are top sides,   within the Red Bull group they  will always support Leipzig. The transfer of players is also controversial.  Clubs can artificially inflate or deflate the   value of players to boost the  finances of a particular club. That's why UEFA and FIFA have been asked to  regulate multi-club models. But in reality,   do they really want to discourage this  new form of investment into football?  Only recently, UEFA made it easier  for clubs within the same network   to play each other. So like it or not,  multi-club ownership is here to stay.  The Red Bull Football model is controversial. Some fans in Germany refer to Leipzig’s  supporters as customers. It's supposed   to be an insult, but Red Bull  probably doesn’t mind too much. Because this is exactly why Red  Bull purchased a football club. The strategy is simple. Win  on Sunday, sell on Monday. Red Bull already knows this works from Formula 1.   Whenever Max Verstappen wins a race,  Red Bull sells more cans the next day. Now imagine the same in the biggest sport in the  world. That's why it makes sense for Red Bull to   use some of the money they make with their  drink to cross-finance their football clubs,   even if those don't make a  profit on their own soon. With the rise of RB Leipzig, Red Bull  will probably sell even more cans in   the future. And even without selling more  cans, it's likely to pay off. Because what   started as a marketing machine has  turned into a business of its own. Red Bull Racing was started with an initial  400 million dollar investment. Today,   the team is self-sustaining, profitable  and worth 2.6 billion dollars. RB Leipzig earns around 3 million  euros per match through ticket sales,   and more than 70 million euros per year  through broadcasting. Leipzig has also   earned millions on the transfer market  through buying low and selling high. And you remember the 100 million they paid for   the New York Red Bulls? The club is  now worth more than half a billion. Few brands have mastered the combination of sports  and content marketing the way that Red Bull has. Red Bull has invented a new category of  drink. It then invented several new sports   to market the product. The multi-club  model is the next evolution. Creating   a machine that can take the Red Bull name to  the top of the biggest sport on the planet. And that is why Red Bull owns a football club.
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Channel: Athletic Interest
Views: 293,310
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Keywords: red bull, rb leipzig, red bull football, rb racing, max verstappen, red bull bayern munich, red bull beckenbauer, red bull mateschitz, red bull marketing, why red bull owns a football club, why red bull owns a racing team, how red bull makes money, red bull athletic interest, athletic interest, red bull racing, formula one, formula 1
Id: WyZEpdCYx6w
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Length: 17min 25sec (1045 seconds)
Published: Fri May 03 2024
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