It all started in 1987 with a small engagement at the Salzburg Ice Hockey Club and the support of a young people’s ski jumping event in Pfarrwerfen. In the meantime, Red Bull has become an important global player in the world of sports, which is not only on display in motor sports or football, but also as the inventor of events such as “Cliff Diving”, the “Wings for Life World Run” or the “X-Alps” for paragliders. “We’re not a sponsor, we play football,” Dietrich Mateschitz once explained in a discussion with sports journalists. The Styrian has always categorically rejected conventional sponsoring in the “oligarch-style”. “Nothing would be easier than taking a bag full of money and going shopping. But that’s stupid,” said the Red Bull boss, who was not only admired for his football commitment, but also criticized. For hardcore fans, Red Bull is a red rag. The aversion is mutual. Mateschitz: “There is a minority in football, they fight class wars, they just want to get drunk or shoot off fireworks.”
There are also allegations against Red Bull for its involvement in extreme sports. The list of Red Bull heroes who died in an accident gets longer every year, control freak Mateschitz has always resisted supporting a life-threatening daredevilry. He even had the Red Bull Air Race stopped once when, in his opinion, the risk got out of hand.
The Red Bull squad includes around 600 individual athletes, the Austrian veterans are Gerhard Berger, Heinz Kinigadner and Andreas Goldberger. They have remained active Red Bull ambassadors long after their careers have ended. The red bull’s most spectacular sporting action was probably Felix Baumgartner’s stratospheric jump ten years ago. The costs were given as 25 million euros, the advertising value is said to have been one billion euros. (chz)
Source: Nachrichten
