Walking through Central Park and into a Manhattan hotel on a beautiful fall day in New York City, Eintracht Frankfurt CEO Axel Hellmann was a long way from his normal office. 

Over the October international break, with Frankfurt’s season paused and the German national team in North America for games against the United States and Mexico, it was the perfect time for a trip to the U.S., where Hellmann’s club is placing increased importance. 

Hellmann has been around Eintracht Frankfurt his whole life and has worked there for two decades. His love for the club is genuine and infectious. He thinks you’d feel it, too.

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“If you come once to our match,” Hellmann explained, “you will understand immediately what I mean.”

Frankfurt, the city, has plenty of economic ties with the United States — particularly in the banking realm. Eintracht Frankfurt, now has a strong tie to the United States after the signing of rising U.S. international Paxten Aaronson from the Philadelphia Union.

Hellmann talked openly about various topics ranging from MLS’ place in the global transfer market, Frankfurt’s infatuation with America (both for financial and sporting goals), Aaronson’s transfer and future, scouting the United States, the money coming from Saudi Arabia and much more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Your purview is German football, first and foremost Eintracht Frankfurt. From the outside, what are your thoughts on the trajectory of MLS?

What we see and what we notice is the brilliant sports education in the U.S. It makes the talent pool bigger and bigger. What we’ve seen are that the talents are getting higher for international standards. The talent pool is getting bigger and more U.S. players will come to Europe on a higher level. That’s why we believe that the league in the U.S. will have a great chance to grow. 

Tactically, technically and physically, there is no difference (in development from the U.S. to Europe). We are looking forward to having more scouting activities in the U.S. in the near future. It’s great, a very interesting market.

Is this something similar you do across the globe in other markets you find interesting?

Yeah, but we have limited resources and that means we have to focus very much on just a few key markets where we are looking for talent. 

In particular, because of the specific relationships we have to certain countries, for example Japan, but it’s not that we have 20 or 30 countries or leagues or markets on the screen. We believe (the U.S.) is our top market, No. 1. Even for scouting, not just for sports marketing and communications, but we expect the market to explode in terms of talent. 

Specific to your club, you signed Paxten Aaronson. That was a transfer celebrated around here, myself included, as a very good landing spot. I think one of the most interesting things is that he might have had around 500 first team minutes last year. So the identification and decision of ‘yeah, absolutely this player will fit with us, he’s going to be a Bundesliga player even though he played 500 MLS minutes’ or whatever.

First of all, he is really a great player. He’s a great character, he has the right mentality. He’s open minded and fully integrated. I talked to him recently on an international tour, what I like is that he likes to learn and he’s patient. Very patient. Patience is something he needs very much because it’s a step if you’re coming to a league with a certain level with expectations of, let’s say 55,000 at a home match. We don’t want to put too much pressure on young players in the beginning. They need their time to integrate.

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I am absolutely sure he will play a crucial role in the squad. He has all the talent and technical ability. What I really like is he has this 360 (degree view), it’s like a radar. He knows where the defenders are, where his teammates are. He can foresee a situation on the pitch, which is a talent you cannot learn. You have this, you cannot learn this.

You mentioned a couple times the American market, both in terms of players and commerce, is very important to the club. What do you hope to accomplish? Do you hope to win fans, do you hope to improve the standing of the club, to convince fans that Eintracht Frankfurt is the club for you, there’s not just Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund?

What we’ve learned is that the U.S. fans are not strictly limited to one club. They are quite open. If they get touched by a story, by something that happens specifically around a club like Eintracht Frankfurt, which is a very emotional club. I think there is a lot of space in the U.S. for a lot of clubs. Some clubs are more successful than we are, playing frequently in the Champions League, like Bayern and Borussia Dortmund, but we have some specific thing that all the others don’t have. This 100% passion over a long history. 

If you come once to our match, you will understand immediately what I mean. Those 90 minutes with full support which give the player a complete emotional and passionate feeling. And that is something where, I believe, if you pair this with good stories about the personalities on the pitch, that is a perception that helps us a lot to get fans in the U.S. To show our brand from another perspective than the usual sports perspective is also something.

The third point is there is a close link between Frankfurt and the U.S. because of the private banks and U.S. companies situated in Frankfurt. It was the headquarters of the (U.S.) Army after the Second World War. I grew up with a lot of Americans in my neighborhood. It’s a stronger tie than any other city has in Germany to the U.S. culture. And that gives us the opportunity just to transport more things to the U.S. than others.

We have a strong tie with the NFL. With the American roots the city of Frankfurt has. Some people say, well, why are you opening the door for the NFL in Germany? And I said: Why shouldn’t we? It’s sports, but we are not competitors. Just two matches in Frankfurt is great. 

For us, it’s very important to mention we’re absolutely happy to have this relationship with the NFL. It shows the Bundesliga is open to let other sports into our country, our stadium, and that we are interested to use good contacts with the NFL to grow our product and football in the U.S.

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How is the club capitalizing on being in the Champions League this year, with the increased eyes, revenue and opportunity to reach new people?

The Champions League helped a lot. Internationally, of course, for brand building, it was very much important. It is a dream that can come true. 

You have to understand that in 2016 we were close to relegation. We had €100 million revenue, now we have €350 million in seven years. So there is an economic boost. There is a boost in reach, but also that these dreams can come true, from relegation to Champions League. It’s a wonderful story. We don’t have an investor, there’s no capital injection from outside the club. We did this on our own.

Do you think any concept of a salary cap, not quite having all of the roster rules that MLS has, but just a basic limit to spending could happen in the Bundesliga or another top European league? I know La Liga tries this with the revenue in and spending out. Do you see that happening in Europe in the mid-term future?

I push very much to think about the salary cap. I think that’s a very good idea. You can think (of it) as an absolute salary cap or a relative salary cap. At the moment, we have a relative approach, but I think it’s not enough. We need an absolute salary cap.

Then you have to discuss a lot of back doors (to get around the cap). For example, are there any payments to circumvent the salary cap? On the other hand, what is the right level to draw the line for the salary cap? It’s a big difference between the Premier League and, for example, the Austrian league. 

To think in a coherent way, you have to combine both a relative salary cap combined with an absolute salary cap. Taking into account the specific economic possibilities that each league will have. That is my perception on how to introduce a salary cap, but I’m very much a fan.

Elsewhere in MLS, there’s a lot more parity. There will never be a scenario in which a Bayern Munich type club wins the league 10 years in a row, or Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia, or even Manchester City in England right now. There will always be more successful clubs than others, but part of the myth of American sports is meritocracy and you can always go from worst to first. What are your thoughts on parity in MLS and American sports in general versus the lack thereof in Germany and Europe?

I think you have to take into account that the MLS is 30 years old. For example, I think 30 years ago in the ‘80s and ‘90s, we had in 10 years seven different champions in the German league. So it’s a question of how the league will develop and how the league will grow.

And in the absence of the salary cap model in Germany, of course the stronger you become in your national league, the harder the competition is on a European level, the more interested you are in getting more revenue to compete. That is the big difference between the MLS and Germany — We have a market above. The European competitions. The top clubs in Germany have to compete with the top clubs of the other leagues. That is a problem that causes the situation that some clubs dominate their national leagues because they get extra revenue from the UEFA competitions that other German clubs do not have.

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That’s a big advantage MLS clubs have. There is no Pan-American Super League. I’m quite sure it will come.

Before I let you go, and there’s no good way to answer this because there’s 29 clubs, but in your view as an expert in the Bundesliga and world football, where would MLS clubs fall in the German football pyramid?

Well, I know a few clubs better than others. I talked to some people here in the U.S. who said they think they’re far away from the top professional standards in Europe and I don’t agree. I think there are very good professional standards.

Some clubs would be in the 2. Bundesliga and some would be in the Bundesliga. I also think that some clubs could compete easily — easily — in European competitions. I have no doubt about that.

(Photo: Hasan Bratic/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)