MTN secures rights to sponsor Nigeria Premier League

MTN secures rights to sponsor Nigeria Premier League

After bidding for
the Nigeria Premier League twice and losing out to rival, Globacom,
telecommunications firm, MTN Nigeria, on Thursday, won the rights to
sponsor the Nigeria Premier League for four seasons.

Details of the
agreement have yet to be made public, however, MTN is said to have made
a commitment to pay N2.6 billion over the next four years to the
league. The deal will come as a relief to beleaguered Chairman of the
league, Davidson Owumi, given that Rumson Baribote, former Chairman of
Bayelsa United is contesting the legality of the NPL elections that
threw up Owumi as chairman, in the courts.

The battles

The rivalry between
the two telecoms companies over sponsorship of the league started as
far back as 2006 when for the first time the league came up for
sponsorship. MTN were initially thought to have wrapped up the deal
with a sponsorship fee of N300m. That was not to be as Glo, reportedly
availing itself of contacts in the Presidency, won the bid with an
offer of N70 million. When the contract lapsed in 2008 under Oyuiki
Obaseki, a new deal brokered by MTN for N500m failed with Globacom
retaining sponsorship.

In January 2010,
former league boss, Obaseki, had led his team to Globacom to
re-negotiate the sponsorship. Globacom complained that having spent
millions in league sponsorship, they were not getting the desired
results. Therefore it was not a surprise when the 2010/11 season
arrived and Globacom pulled out of the sponsorship deal. The NPL again
threw its doors open for new sponsors. This time around, MTN, floored
twice by Globacom, decided not to show its hands openly electing to use
a front, an organisation known as Total Promotions to push its bid.
Total Promotions already does business with the league, having signed a
deal with the NPL over broadcast of league matches. After two days of
intense negotiations, news emerged that MTN had clinched the deal ahead
of its rival.

“It is a good one.
It shows that there is still potential for the league if MTN can do
business with the NPL,” said Emeka Nwani, Head of Media, NPL. “We are
assuring Nigerians that the money will be used judiciously for the
improvement of the league.” The NPL has debts of over N700 million as
part of recurrent expenditure as they are yet to be paid for last
season’s sponsorship. The former sponsors, Globacom, are reportedly
owing N923 million for the 2009/10 season.

Monkey business

While Nigerians
await a formal announcement of the new deal, there are indications that
the last may not have been heard of the matter. Globacom is not taking
the latest development lying down. An official of the organisation, who
asked not to be named, said “The last has not been heard of the matter.
The entire process has been less than satisfactory. We have a situation
where one company put it in a bid and then another organisation, which
did not formally enter the race, is said to have won the bid.” Attempts
to reach Shehu Gusau, the Chairman of the bid committee, to explain to
clarify whether the rules permit the use of fronts, proved
unsuccessful. Equally, efforts to contact Owumi were unsuccessful as
his mobile phone was switched off.

MTN used to sponsor the Africa Cup of Nations and the CAF Champions League tournaments in Africa and the Zambia Premier League.

Click to Read More Sports Stories

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *