With a third of the season gone, the Premier Soccer League (PSL) board of governors will meet in Harare on Saturday to make resolutions on sponsorship agreements and discuss broadcasting issues.
Chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele yesterday confirmed the meeting to be attended by the 16 governors — representatives of all the PSL clubs — which he said was aimed at creating a platform for synergies between the league and its sponsors, club sponsors and the clubs.
Ndebele said there was need to be harmony in sponsorship for the sake of football’s progress in the country.
“There will be a special general meeting of the board of governors in Harare on Saturday, June 9. The idea is to come up with resolutions on sponsorship agreements and broadcasting rights. We want to harmonise sponsorships so that we clear areas of conflict between all the stakeholders; the league sponsors and also between clubs and their sponsors. We want to come up with a resolution that will create a win-win situation for football and sponsors and ensure that sponsors get maximum visibility and mileage and that the sponsors co-exist. We want to come up with a way forward in terms of marketing the clubs,” Ndebele said.
The special meeting comes in the wake of the NetOne Charity Shield saga in March in which Dynamos threatened not to participate in the tournament after their principal sponsors BancABC demanded to be granted prominent space on the club’s jerseys to display their logo.
DeMbare eventually took part in the tournament without the kits unveiled for the competition by NetOne.
The Glamour Boys beat Motor Action to win the NetOne Charity Shield but to date they have not been received prize money as the cellular network provider felt Dynamos flouted competition rules.
The issue has to be handled delicately with BancABC also sponsoring an eight-team tournament, the BancABC Sup8r Cup, and also bankrolling DeMbare, Highlanders and police side Black Mambas.
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Also due is the 16-team Mbada Diamonds Cup towards the end of the season as BancABC are also likely to demand that Dynamos, Highlanders and Black Mambas have their logo prominently emblazoned on the Mbada-provided kits.
Ndebele said in coming up with the resolutions, the board of governors would strive in earnest to follow guidelines set out by the world football gorvening body Fifa. Regarding broadcasting rights, the PSL boss expressly stated that they would be negotiated by the league which would soon be approaching yet to be identified broadcasters.
Of essence, Ndebele said was seeing to it that the league comes up with a package for the clubs. “While we are looking at engaging broadcasters, which include ZBC, we need to come with a package for the clubs but bearing in mind that broadcasting rights are negotiated by the league,” Ndebele said.
The PSL boss could not be drawn to make any comments on the much-publicised deal with satellite TV channel Supersport.
