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…Gusau charges league managers to bring spectators to stadium
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) will rake in a whopping sum of N10.5 billion ($7.5 million) as a three year sponsorship deal that will take the country’s elite League to next level.
Chairman of the league body, Gbenga Elegbeleye, who made the disclosure during the unveiling ceremony in Abuja on Wednesday, explained that the league body will get $2.5 million seasonally, totaling $7.5 million for the three years the sponsorship duration.
In his introductory remarks, Elegbeleye had commended the trajectory and mileage the league has recorded, emphasising that his administration is no longer worried about bringing the spectators to stadium but how to manage the surging crowd.
Introducing the new sponsors as EUROMATCH, Elegbeleye said: “I want to commend everyone for making out time to be part of this historical event of unveiling new sponsors for the NPFL. Let me inform us that we now have new sponsors in the name of EUROMATCH.”
“By the way, the amount involved in the three-year sponsorship deal is $2.5 million per season. So, for the three seasons they will be sponsoring us, we will get a total of $7.5 million deals from our sponsors,” he revealed.
Speaking further, Elegbeleye expressed happiness over the massive turnout of spectators, stressing: “We now have massive spectators coming out to watch our matches. We are no longer struggling to get the spectators to the stadium, we are rather trying to manage the crowd.”
In attendance during the unveiling ceremony included the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, Nigeria ex-internationals, comprising Austin Eguaveon, Daniel Amokachi, Samson Siasia, Brown Ideye, Davidson Owumi. Others are the Director-General National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Onilu, Presidential Special Adviser on Communication, Sunday Dare, the Group Chairman, Euromatch group, among many others.
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Equally speaking during the event, NFF president, Gusau, explained that sponsors initially avoided investing in the league because of the fundamental issues bothering on the organisation of the league.
“Before now, the league could not attract sponsors but how can it attract sponsors when we ran a league we didn’t know when it will kickoff or end. Now that we seem to have gotten it right because we know when it will start and end. This sponsorship is the reward for the positive,” he said.
The federation’s boss further charged Premier league managers to formulate measures to bring more spectators and football fans to the stadium, especially with weekly star matches.
On his side, former Minister of Sports Development, Sunday Dare, expressed happiness over the new deal, noting: “I think the NPFL leadership must be commended for embracing change and reforms. I know that the last three years have not been easy but they kept going, especially as the owners and managers of the clubs and main stakeholders have keyed into that change.”
“This unveiling is what happens when you embrace progressive change. It will attract investments which have come to life with the $7.5 million over the next three years is massive but also speaks about the efforts we made when we classified sports as business.
“Beyond that we also put on the table a 10-year Master plan which among other things talks about the development of our football to attract businesses. We have seen this happen and the rating of our premier football league has improved. We are way up the ladder. We are fifth in the continent now contrary to where we were previously.
“I am sure the improvement will also impact our national teams, the Super Eagles, and the youth teams.
When you benchmark football development across the world, football,just like sports, is classified as a business,” he said.
