Nomads warn sulom

Be Forward Wanderers have threatened to eat into Super League of Malawi’s (Sulom) cut if Bingu National Stadium (BNS) authorities stick to an arrangement to get 25 percent from the gross gate-revenue in Saturday’s TNM Super League derby involving the Nomads and Nyasa Big Bullets.

Wanderers’ general secretary (GS) Mike Butao yesterday claimed that Sulom had assured them that BNS would get 25 percent from net gate revenue and not gross.

However, BNS spokesperson Irene Mkoko, in an interview with The Nation yesterday, contradicted the Nomads’ claims, insisting that the arrangement with Sulom was that they (BNS) would get their cut from the gross.

Said Mkoko: “It is a normal practice that as stadium authorities, we get 25 percent from gross gate collection and that is what will happen.”

But Butao said they agreed to play at BNS after Sulom assured them that the ground owners would get 25 percent of net after paying initial costs such as security, medical personnel, etcetera, as is the case in other stadia.

“Therefore, if BNS insists on getting their cut from the gross, we will have no choice but to take Sulom’s slice because it was them that gave us the assurance,” he said.

“As a club, we are trying to find every way possible to maximise our take-home package. Nowadays, it is too expensive to run a club and, as the ones actually playing the game, we deserve a better package.”

Initially, Wanderers were reluctant to host the derby at BNS, arguing that the stadium fees were too high and, instead, they were considering hosting Bullets at Civo Stadium so as “to maximise” their revenue.

Sulom treasurer Tiya Somba-Banda could not comment on the matter yesterday while Bullets chief executive officer Fleetwood Haiya said: “We are not playing at home, so we cannot comment much on the venue.”

Normally, ground owners get 25 percent cut from net gate revenue, the same as each of the clubs involved in the match. Sulom and Football Association of Malawi (FAM) receive 10 percent net each while Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) get five percent.

When asked why BNS gets their cut from the gross and not the net as is the case with other stadium owners, director of sports in Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Jameson Ndalama said the normal arrangement is that stadium owner gets 25 percent cut from gross revenue “but this does not happen in most cases due to some negotiations among stakeholders”. n