And this one is proven. Evidently, Bayern were once quite willing to be bought. According to research by "manager magazin," on 9 December 1999, Bayern manager Uli Hoeneß, board member Karl Hopfner and ex-president Fritz Scherer concluded a secret contract with then-Kirch executives Dieter Hahn and Stefan Ziffzer. In the 18-page document, both parties agreed to "exclusive cooperation."
Under the terms, the Kirch Group undertook to compensate Bayern through to the 2004/05 season for the difference between the revenue from central marketing by the DFB and the potential revenue from individual marketing of TV rights — a distortion of competition unprecedented in league history.
With this payment, Kirch is said to have bought FC Bayern's consent to continued central marketing of Bundesliga rights. Bayern manager Hoeneß subsequently lobbied in the league committee for the rights to be awarded to the Kirch Group. In the secret contract, Kirch guaranteed the Bundesliga club compensation of up to 30 million marks per year for the first three years. From the 2003/04 season, up to 50 million marks per season would have been due.
In practice, Kirch transferred approximately 40 million marks to Bayern for the 2000/01 and 2001/02 seasons, until the Kirch Group went insolvent. As recently as the summer of 1999, Bayern's leadership had insisted on individual marketing of TV rights by Bundesliga clubs, hoping this would yield higher fees than central marketing through the DFB.