Solution for starting my esport team?

A wonderful good day to all readers.

When setting up my esport team, I want to start small and gradually let it grow.

At the moment I'm in the process of building my own project. A website and etc. I'll pay out of my own pocket. However, server costs for the website, TeamSpeak and gaming server (training server for csgo) should pay for themselves over time. Through twitch (donations, subs) and through shares in the sale of merchandise (spreadshirt / xoose). In doing so, I often ask myself what do I have to take into account legally, or what is legally up to me that I do not get "off the bat" with this income. I don't want to make a profit myself but use all of the income for my project. However, there's my question, is it absolutely necessary to start a company or are there options where you say you have an extra account, etc. For this project where all payments go in and out, you don't pay yourself any of it for yourself to enrich etc. Since I will bear the sole legal responsibility for it and max. With 10 thousand euro of equity available for my project, I don't really know what the right options are for me. Since at the beginning there's no plan to pay players salary or expense allowances.

And despite no type of company, can I make sponsorship contracts and player contracts etc.

And is it possible as an individual to take responsibility for it, etc., especially how, with what costs and all the legal matters such as tax office etc.

So what would be the best for my project and what do I have to consider?

Basically - as far as I can tell - you as an eSports team are an unregistered club. For your project, it would also be very interesting to be registered as an association if your project is well thought out and you are pretty sure about your cause.

The registered association (e.V.) is a type of company that is also quite easy to look through. An advantage that is also very good for you is that in the event of damage, the association is initially liable and not all members, as with an unregistered association.

For the establishment of an e.V. You still have to consider a few things in order to be able to guarantee a smooth start-up process.

I could tell you everything about founding an association, but quite a few pages have already done that so I'll link one page to you once.

https://deutsches-ehrenamt.de/verein-gruenden/die-vereinsgruendung/

A tip: The statutes should be complete and not contain any formal errors, otherwise the district court will have to extend the procedure. So again include any legal fees here.

If you have any questions, just ask. I've been in the position of the board of directors for a while and have experienced and learned a few things accordingly

I also thought about a club, but this is just because of the problem that you need 7 people to start up and I also read that you may need a club seat. As a result, however, everything is mostly happening online for the time being and the possible change of team membranes also comes along, I just don't know whether it is a good solution in the beginning as an association. I have considered starting a secondary or small business or small business. Because I can redesign my website for my project in order to promote my team and possibly other teams who want to join the project. And so I'm solely responsible if something goes wrong and not burden the teams and players, especially the young players. My idea is to give teams in the German esports area an initial support to grow and become professional if they don't have the financial means to set up an organization themselves. Of course I thought about a concept to implement. But now it would be extremely long to go into more detail. With my project I would like to be something of a "daddy" for small teams, young teams and at the same time support my team. The plan is not to become international for the time being, but to concentrate on Germany. Since many teams simply do not have the financial means to deal with the tax office etc.

Now that my question is, would it be wise to design the aforementioned as an association or as a sole proprietorship or as a company. Because the teams that run between us in leagues, tournaments and events should or can keep their own name. And I think you have to represent your name at a club. Because we already have three teams in the organization. My team, which I want to protect legally and to represent and support in the media area, (with gamecasts on twitch, the possibility of merch from the team through partners such as spreadshirt etc., and give the teams a platform where they can get media support and training servers, the use of a teamspeak, etc.) this is financed through social media marketing, the share of merch and donations of the streams. But I want to protect myself legally and not leave young rising teams at that. So then the other teams have the chance to continue playing under their team name, but have an easier entry into esports and the entry is made easier, possibly to found an eV or even an organization on an international level if the teams are successful and the fan base etc gets bigger.

So, as I said, there's my project to support and market my / my team to look smart as an e.V. To build up the whole thing or do you say it, because it is similar to an association, it is smart to orientate yourself as a company.

Thank you in advance and I'm curious what a solution will be.

Sure, if I know in which direction I have to concentrate, it is important to get advice from lawyers, tax authorities, etc. But first I have to make a decision in which direction I should build it up in order to get the right information. And that's just a difficult decision and not easy. So thank you very much for a good answer / answers and I'm grateful for any help.

The 7 people you need to found an association do not have to be there afterwards. You only need them for the foundation. (§56 BGB). The seat of the association only affects the 1st board and not the members. So unless you intend to change the 1st board again and again, this is not a problem. You also need a seat for other types of company (postal address).

Your section with "I'm solely responsible for this". You are that even without a company. It's all about liability. With an association, the association is basically liable for the association's capital. In the case of a non-association, you are personally liable in full. And I think it's not in your best interest that you're personally liable. Other forms of company like a GbR also have the disadvantage that you are personally liable. I would also be cautious with a UG, although you can start it up from one euro of share capital, but there are also some disadvantages instead of advantages, which will certainly not necessarily be in your interest.

If you found an association, it is basically just the carrier. Everyone can then have their own name, but are subject to the association's statutes. Your questions go deeper and I don't really know whether "good question" is still the best place for this that I think it will be a longer process. I'll send you a friend request for this.