Thomas Peeters, Associate Professor at Erasmus School of Economics, contributed to an article about Vitesse's financial position and the potential solution of hiring a foreign investor. Here, he also addresses the question of why the Netherlands has relatively few foreign investors.
Vitesse is having financial difficulties and now appears to need the help of an American investor. Earlier, in 2010, an investor also stepped in when the club seemed to be going bankrupt. However, this plan is not entirely welcomed. According to Peeters, supporters prefer an owner they know. In Belgium there are now many more foreign owners than we see in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, things have gone wrong before at ADO, where the judge had to intervene so that the foreign owner would pay. According to Peeters, the poorer bond between the foreign owner and the club should therefore be seen as a risk.
Investors are mainly interested in clubs that are in poor financial condition, because this makes them relatively cheap to acquire. However, that is not that easy, because the licensing committee then also has to look at it. There is also a cultural difference involved. In the Netherlands, certain things, such as an annual report or an equivalent alternative, are expected, which may not be common in other countries. This is also the case in America, where investors have almost no reporting obligation. Hiding how profitable you are is explicitly a tactic to deter your supporters from expecting more.
- Associate professor
- More information
You can read the full article from de Volkskrant, 21 February 2024, here.