DOUBLE JOY FOR PLE TEAMS

MBABANE – Double joy! This is the privilege local premier league clubs stand to enjoy when the football season resumes this weekend without fans. 

After initial concerns that local elite clubs were facing huge financial losses as playing games without fans in stadiums, as most rely on gate-takings to sustain themselves, indications are that it is not all doom and gloom.

Actually, investigations by this publication revealed that the clubs are most likely to benefit more financially than they would have if fans were allowed in stadiums. 

This is largely because besides the E600 000 compensation covering three months clubs are expected to get from the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) for playing in empty stadiums, live-streaming of the games is also projected to benefit them handsomely – financially that is.

announced

It was announced during the launch of the 2020/2021 MTN Premier League E6 million sponsorship on Wednesday morning that the giant mobile company will introduce a digital platform that will provide live-streaming for local football fans to watch their favourite clubs in action. 

Fans will be required to purchase data instead of tickets and this will give them access to livestream any game of their choice. 

proceeds

The parties involved, being the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE), EFA and clubs will get to share the financial proceeds from the livestreams, but the finer details are still to be put to finality. 

The onus will now be on the clubs to engage in proper marketing initiatives to mobilise their followers to buy data. 

The proposal is that the more a team gets views in the livestreams, the more the financial benefits. 

This actually puts the teams that have a large following in the premier league at an advantage to make a lot of money through live-streaming. Clubs like Mbabane Swallows, Manzini Wanderers and Mbabane Highlanders command a huge following and could strike it rich if they can get their followers to embrace this platform. 

“If you look at how much clubs make when fans are in stadiums, it is not much really, compared to what they can make in the live-streaming setup where all you need to do is buy data and watch the game in your house. 

There are a lot of people who want to watch local games, but do not have the time to go to the stadium and this is where live treaming comes in handy for such people. 

anonymity

Chances of seeing more people buying data are very high and this will bring more financial joy for the clubs,” a premier league analyst, who preferred anonymity noted. 

PLE Chief Operations Officer (COO) Pat Vilakati said they were still not sure how the clubs would be compensated by the EFA. Chairman Mark Carmichael observed that the live-streaming of games provides the perfect platform for clubs to generate money even without fans in stadiums. 

Some of the clubs were contacted, but asked not to comment for now as they were waiting for official feedback from their executive committee on the issue.                  

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