The Bremen state government "is planning to involve the German Football League (DFL) in the costs for police operations to provide security at home games of Bundesliga side Werder Bremen starting as early as this year," according to the SID. The state senate "passed a corresponding law change on Tuesday despite heavy criticism from sports and politics." Bremen Interior Secretary Ulrich Mäurer said, "Our primary goal is very clear, preventing violence at big football games. Due to our budget situation, organizers that gain an economic profit through a government service have to, in the interest of all taxpayers, pay an appropriate fee for the service." The senate's proposed change to "Bremen's Fee and Contribution Law" has to be passed by the state's legislative assembly, Bürgerschaft, before taking effect. Sen. Mäurer said that the first game to require a fee would be the Bundesliga game between Werder Bremen and Hannover 96 in December, at the earliest. Should the law pass it could have widespread effects. An internal report by the state said that police operations for home game at the Weserstadium cost taxpayers around €1.4M during the '13-14 season. During the '12-13 season, it was around €2M (SID, 7/22). The SID reported in a separate story DFL President Reinhard Rauball threatened that the state's proposed law "will have consequences." He said, "I will file a request to provisionally not award Bremen with national team games at the German Football Federation's next board meeting on Friday." Rauball added, "It can't be the case that we want to do something good for Bremen, and in return have to fear encountering certain costs." Bremen therefore "could be stripped of the the Euro 2016 qualification match between Germany and Gibraltar, which is scheduled for Nov. 14" (SID, 7/22).
