Friday 11 January 2008

Mascom, PLC deal nears end

Source: BOPA

GABORONE - The unprecedented P4.5 million Mascom Wireless sponsorship of the premier league comes to an end this year and many football fans and clubs are hoping for an increased sponsorship in the next season.

Setete Phuthego, the premier league secretary, said last year that they will start negotiations with the giant mobile phone operator when the sponsorship is left with six months.

Mascom beat other competitors such as Orange and St Louis last time to win the right to sponsor Botswanas top football league for a record P1.5 million every season.

Orange is the current national team sponsors and they also sponsor Township Rollers while Kgalagadi Breweries had been associated with the premier league long before the arrival of Mascom and Orange through their brands such as Castle, St Louis and Coca Cola.

Notwanes Public Relations Officer, Podi Ace Mooki, believes the whole sponsorship issue should be open for renegotiation, but emphasised the need to retain Mascom.

The Premier League Committee (PLC) should sit down with teams and see how the sponsorship deal can be grown and improved, Mooki said in an interview last year.

He said the PLC should encourage E-sportes, the sponsorship marketing company, to intensify its marketing of the games.

Mooki said teams should also ensure that Mascom benefits from its sponsorship in order to justify the need for an increase.

Other companies such as Orange should also be invited to come on board to intensify competition which would bring a better deal, he added.

He noted that competition between Botswanas two mobile phone operators is intense and could be exploited for the benefit of the local game.

He also emphasised the need for premier league teams to solicit sponsorship deals individually to augment what the league sponsors bring to the table.

Gaborone Uniteds Public Relations Officer Atamelang Thage, said the sponsorship should be increased. He said the last team on the league table at the end of the season deserve to get about P50 000 in prize money while the league champions should be receive half a million Pula.

He argued that teams spend a lot of money during the season and that most have little or no sponsorship. He said he appreciated what Mascom had done for local football, but said they should double their current sponsorship.

Teams need money and any company or sponsor that comes with a better offer should be welcomed, he said. Thage added that although teams were not being run as professionally as one would like, the government should encourage private companies to venture into sport sponsorship by giving them incentives.

A football supporter, Banks Shapile, said if any company comes into the picture with a better offer, the Botswana Football Association (BFA) should listen to it.

He said a better sponsorship deal would increase the stakes and the level of competition. Shapile maintained that companies wanted to associate with football, especially that South Africa will be hosting the first FIFA World Cup on African soil in 2010.

Companies are pumping a lot of money into football in other countries, and it should be the same here, he said.

It remains to be seen whether Mascom will up the stakes, or Orange will bring a better offer to the table. Better still, a surprise company might tilt the scales and all this, according to football experts, will be for the benefit and development of the number one sport in Botswana and the world. BOPA

No comments: