Clubs that would participate in the 2013/14 season of the Globacom Premier League have been reminded of the requirement to submit all existing and new sponsorship contracts to the League Management Company (LMC), for verification and approval.
Chief Operating Officer of the LMC, Salihu Abubakar, while issuing the directive which he said is a reminder to the clubs on previous communication on the issue, warned that clubs must comply or face weighty sanctions.
He assured the clubs and their legally contracted partners that the LMC will protect all existing contracts it sanctioned. The LMC chief also insists on strongly protecting existing benchmarks for the brand to ensure equity for all in the League
“LMC is going to evaluate the validity of all commercial deals/sponsorship to protect existing contracts in line with the rules and established benchmark for commercial value of all commercial platforms in the NPFL,” Abubakar stated.
He further disclosed the decision of the LMC to waive its 10 per cent accrual from all club sponsorship deals.
“However, we will also insist on deriving true value for our league and its associate products and services,” stressed Abubakar.
Further on sponsorship related issues, the League COO said the LMC will not allow the use of shirts with identical product advertising by two teams in the league or in a match. In his words: “the League will not allow any one commercial sponsor for more than two clubs. Also, no identical advertising elements may appear on the shirt of two teams in the same match and where this occurs; the visiting teams must change shirts and may wear shirts with a different product of the same sponsor.” Abubakar explained that these decisions have been designed to prevent the devaluation of the League brand and to also assist the clubs to properly evaluate and price their assets to derive the right commercial value.
He finally reminded the clubs that the title right’s sponsor logo must appear on the right sleeve of the team’s shirt, between the shoulder seam and the elbow when provided by the sponsor, saying, “this is consistent with the contract the LMC entered into with Globacom, our title right’s sponsor.”
