Borussia Dortmund seeks judicial review of current spectator restrictions

Bundesliga soccer club Borussia Dortmund will have the restrictions on the admission of spectators to outdoor sporting events, which are associated with the current Corona Protection Ordinance of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, reviewed by way of summary court proceedings.

To this end, Borussia Dortmund is expected to file an application for an interim order in the norm control procedure with the Higher Administrative Court in Münster in the course of tomorrow.

Borussia Dortmund considers the current restrictions to be illegal. The football club is convinced that they violate the principle of proportionality and the principle of equal treatment. While indoor events can already be held nationwide with a high percentage of occupancy (in some cases close to full capacity) despite the comparatively higher risk of infection, the capacity of Germany's largest open-air stadium - the SIGNAL IDUNA PARK - is currently being limited to the use of only 0.92 percent of the total capacity (81,365 spectators).

To this day, Borussia Dortmund had hoped to find - in dialogue with the state government - consensual and moderate solutions as it is now being made possible in other German federal states such as Saxony-Anhalt, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. "This next step," emphasizes the CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, "is regrettable and for us "ulitma ratio". However, it is our job to protect Borussia Dortmund's legitimate business interests."

Borussia Dortmund, in whose stadium 16,000 people have been vaccinated over the past few months, has a proven (hygiene) concept for games with spectators. In particular, the Bundesliga club also considers the frequently used political arguments regarding the risk of infection on arrival and departure routes to be inconclusive. Evaluations towards the end of last year clearly showed that the stadium was 18 percent occupied (15,000 spectators) and that the majority of spectators traveled there in their own car (10,000 parking spaces are available), by bicycle or on foot, also for reasons of caution. Extreme peaks in public transport, which are common practice in the federal state North-Rhine Westphalia several times a day on every single business day and are accepted by the state government, could thus be avoided. This is expressly in line with the findings of the Dortmund public transport company DSW21.

Dortmund, 31. January 2022

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