Hannover out, SERC 04 In, Bietigheim mad

The DEL and 2.Bundesliga have no true agreement for the promotion of clubs out of 2.Bundesliga, the only way for the club to move up is to either purchase the licence off a DEL club who no longer wishes to play in the league anymore or hope that a club fails to receive their licence and are kicked out of the league. In sense, there is a "gentlemens agreement" that the Champion of 2.Bundesliga is allowed first crack at the DEL licence while the rest of the clubs who wish to move up wait for either the Champions to decline moving up or fail to come to an agreement. In order, SC Bietigheim-Bissingen Steelers are Champions of 2.Bundesliga while SERC 04 Wild Wings (Schwenningen) are Vice-Champions and come second.

The Hannover Scorpions once again this year put their licence up for sale, last season they came close to giving their licence to either Landshut or Schwenningen put nothing ever came to terms. This season, Papenburg, the owner of Hannover opened up negotiations with both the Champions and Vice-Champions, talks went on for a few weeks and news came out that Hannover has also applied to join 2.Bundesliga or DEL II if it ever got off the ground showing there were real signs that the 2012/2013 season would be the final season for the Scorpions.

On Tuesday, Gerhard Kaufmann (on supervisory board for Bietigheim) received news that Hannover was breaking off negotiations with the 2.Bundesliga Champions and going to sell their licence to the Vice-Champions. The following day, Papenburg called Kaufmann to let him know it was official that their licence would not be going to Bietigheim and according to reports, the sale to Schwenningen was final besides the final signature even though both sides denied it. The news Bietigheim wouldnt receive the licence left them very disappointed, according to Kaufmann "We are obviously very disappointed about the current developments, we were ready for this step and together with our fans, our sponsors and the city of Bietigheim we wanted the adventure in DEL." Manager of the club Volker Schnabel has asked the DEL to block Schwenningen move up because it broke the "agreement" between the leagues.

Today, Thursday, 23.May, the license of Hannover Scorpions has officially been sold to SERC 04 Wild Wings for the price tag of 1.5 million Euros. Schwenningen will now submit their application on Friday to receive their DEL licence and should be accepted, and moving up into the DEL. Hannover future is currently uncertain, they very well can end up in 2.Bundesliga or the DEL II depending on what happens there, Bietigheim on the other hand will be forced to stay in 2.Bundesliga and try again next season. However, rumours continue to say Düsseldorf EG is having trouble closing their budget gap so their licence might be available as well.

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