Revise Super League package annually— Clubs

 

Some Super League of Malawi (Sulom) clubs which have hailed TNM for extending its romance with the league by five years, say there is need to review the sponsorship package annually.

 

 

The clubs also suggest that the K1 million (about $4 000) seed money each club gets needs to be revised upwards.

 

The development follows TNM’s announcement on Tuesday to increase the annual sponsorship to K65 million (about $260 000) from K60 million (about $240 000), representing an 8.3 percent increase which has come against a recent 49 percent devaluation of the kwacha.

 

Escom United chairperson Fanuel Nkhono said: “We applaud TNM for coming up with the package that will last for a long period. We hail them for not abandoning us in these difficult economic times.

 

“However, while we applaud them for the gesture, the cost of sustaining a team is now high considering the inflation compared to the eight percent sponsorship hike.

 

“And, with the recent devaluation, the K1 million is basically half of what it used to be. The cost of everything has gone up.”

 

Nkhono also suggests the need to review the sponsorship package after every season.

 

Mighty Wanderers general secretary David Kanyenda also appreciated TNM’s extension of the sponsorship.

 

“We appreciate their investment in soccer. However, our feeling is that Sulom should have involved its affiliates [clubs] in the sponsorship negotiations considering that they are the beneficiaries.

 

“In future, there should be a lot of consultation to accommodate clubs’ views, because the K65 million is on the lower side considering the period [five years] and we are still stuck to TNM until 2017 and by then the sponsorship package would have lost value,” said Kanyenda.

 

However, Sulom president Innocent Bottomani said at the time of sealing the deal, the kwacha had not been devalued.

 

“When the kwacha was being devalued, we had already struck the deal with TNM. The other things that clubs need to consider is that companies are going through difficult economic times and it is a blessing that TNM are still holding our hand,” said Bottomani.

 

TNM’s sponsorship and public relations manager Wilma Chalulu had not responded to our questionnaire as we went to press.

 

But in his speech at the launch of the sponsorship, TNM chief operations officer Charles Kamoto said the package is subject to review based on performance, a condition which one club official who refused to be named, claimed had been made in the previous sponsorships but was never effected.