The ongoing Botswana Football Association`s (BFA) initiative of BPL Club transformation of Botswana Premier League teams into professional setup is a welcomed development.Making the elite league autonomous will surely make BPL a commercially viable football organisation.
The two encouraging statements made of late by BFA that caught my attention are precisily professionalizing football in Botswana and making the Botswana Premier League(BPL) autonomous.
I am waiting with keen interest on the approach towards attaining that. Obviously it is setting certain standards of the game.
PSL GET GREAT AMOUNT OF INCOME FROM TV RIGHTS
Notably,70% of money used on monthly basis by football clubs for example at South Africa Premier Soccer League(PSL) is from the monthly grant they get. Clubs also get a good amount of money from TV rights.
The Footballer Union of Botswana(FUB) has to come on board to advocate for a sound minimum salary.
A professional setup will see individual players endorsing big name brands such as Nike, Dlala and All Kasi that will redefine marketing.
AN AUTONOMOUS BPL SHOULD BE PROFITABLE
Also since the BPL will be going autonomous it has to make profit so it has to come up with ways of making that profit.For instance, charging a certain percentage on any company that advertises with any of the football clubs during games, taking a certain percentage of gate takings every game played, taking a certain percentage of total amount of tournament sponsorship , taking a certain percentage of television rights and also one profession each club has to pay for each player they register to BPL and the annual affiliation fee will go up say to P10,000 for premier league clubs and P5000 for first division clubs.
LIVE GAME ADS ALSO COME INTO PLAY IN FOOTBALL COMMERCIALIZATION
Live games advertising generate in a lot of money. Running adverts for companies such as Debonairs, Alpha Direct Insurance, KFC, Chicken Licken, Nandos and Botswana Life will bring in a lot money for BPL and that money will go through to TV rights and BPL will get a certain percentage.
BPL NEEDS A MONEY SPENDING TITLE SPONSOR
But the bottom line is that the BPL has to look for a very very good league sponsor which will give the least P300,000 per month to each club as a monthly grant.
CLUB TRANSFORMATION MEANS BUSINESS NOW FOR OUR FOOTBALL
The issue of club transformation by the current regime is good timing. Our football clubs have been run from car boots since 1966 and it’s sad story that our clubs have nothing to show this far. No offices, no training grounds, no vehicles no nothing. Moving away from societies to commercial status will augment our football.
Transformation means clubs positioning themselves to be business entities. Investors will inject money in return expecting Return on Investment(ROI).
As business entities it means clubs will develop communication strategies, marketing strategies, fan base development.
BPL WILL NOW HAVE A NEGOTIATING POWER
Clubs will approach the corporate world and will position themselves as a marketing platform for companies.
A successful transformation of our clubs will elevate and put Botswana Premier League in a better negotiation position to sponsors.
At this junction BPL is a bad position to negotiate with any potential sponsor.
BY:Thomas Motsewakhumo(Football Analyst)
DISCLAIMER:We do not own the opinion above.It has been edited for length.