I don't believe that they had to do that. It's my understanding of the 50+1 rule in Germany that it only applies to when clubs go through changes of ownership while in the top three (or maybe even two?) tiers of the league pyramid, and also it can't be applied retrospectively to teams like Leverkusen, who have always been a company team. If you come up from below that level then you're not subject to the same rule.
That said, I have zero respect for RB Liepzig. I would be one of those fans who refused to attend games against them, or attended as part of a protest action. I have no respect for Red Bull as a whole, and this dates back to long before my involvement with NYCFC. When RB bought RB Salzburg, the first thing they did was collect all of the fans in one place and tell them that from that day on, the club they used to support no longer existed and RB didn't consider their team to be a rebrand, they considered it to be a case of "wipe the slate clean and start again". They even introduced a new badge with the words "Established 2005" on it, although that's since been replaced by the generic RB crest. They apparently told the fans that they were acting like children for saying that they didn't like the way that their club had been taken over, and then told the fans to leave and form their own club (which they did) because they didn't want them. Any group which acts like that to an existing fan base doesn't deserve to be allowed near the sport, let alone to be running clubs.
http://www.standamf.com/2013/07/19/a-tale-of-two-salzburgs/
Falastur !! I think I am going to buy a jersey and wear it to the next derby at NYRB.....
