Super League To Have 16 Teams
Super League of Malawi (Sulom) Extra Ordinary General Meeting held in Lilongwe on Saturday, adopted and ratified a new constitution which has increased the number of Super League teams from 15 to 16 for easy management of the league.
“The idea is to have an even number of teams. This means that this season, two teams will be relegated and three will be promoted to make the number of 2016 TNM Super League teams to be at 16,” general secretary Williams Banda said after the meeting.
beaming such action with clubs
The development has given relegation-bound teams some hope of remaining in the league since only bottom two teams now face the chop.
Mzuni, Fisd Wizards, Airbone and Dedza Young Soccer are the likely victims of relegation.
The new constitution also gave the league runners full rights for Super League matches and products.
The old Sulom constitution was silent on who owned the rights or how the league runners can exploit the rights, which are the main source of revenue for other major leagues like the Spanish la Liga, English Premier League and Bundesliga.
However, following the adoption of the new constitution, Sulom now has exclusive rights according to Article 57.
“These rights include, among others, every kind of financial rights, audiovisual and radio recording, reproduction and broadcasting rights, multimedia rights, marketing and promotional rights and incorporeal rights such as emblems and rights arising under copyright law,” the article reads.
“Sulom shall be the owners of all rights emanating from competitions and other events coming under their respective jurisdiction, without any restrictions as to content, time, place and law.”
The constitution now empowers Sulom to share the proceeds from the rights with clubs.
“The executive committee shall decide how and to what extent these rights are utilised and draw up special regulations to this end. The executive committee shall decide whether these rights shall be utilised exclusively, or jointly with a third party or entirely through a third party,” part 2 of the article reads.
Sulom general secretary Williams Banda said the new constitution was framed in such a way that clubs’ interests are protected.
“Clubs elect Sulom executive. What it is means here is that Sulom holds the rights on behalf of the clubs,” Banda said.
Asked if the new constitution on rights would not affect Sulom contract with sponsors TNM, the GS said: “Everything is under control. There is nothing to fear.”
TNM Super League clubs have since welcomed the decision.
“That will be a milestone,” Bullets vice-general secretary Kelvin Moyo said. “Clubs have been waiting for this for a long time.”
MultiChoice Malawi marketing manager Chimwemwe Nyirenda applauded Sulom for the new constitution, saying time had come for clubs to maximise revenue collection through the rights.
“It’s simple and straight forward issue. Everywhere you go, the league owns exclusive rights,” Nyirenda said. n
