Sponsors fight for turf at National Stadium

Zebras’ main sponsors, Orange Botswana on Wednesday summoned Tebogo Sebego and his committee to Orange head office at 4pm but later postponed the meeting to early next year.

Information reaching BG Sports is that Orange has been offended by the recent display of parameter advertising at the National Stadium, which left the national team sponsors out. Instead rival cellular network, Mascom’s adverts have enjoyed more visibility and television mileage during the Zebras AFCON 2015 qualifiers played at venue.

Orange has never openly expressed its displeasure, but sources say this postponed meeting was intended to pave way on how to address the embarrassing situation. Mascom on the other hand have a running contract with BNSC, who are owners of the stadium and are regarded as resident advertisers. The BNSC uses the funds they get from these advertisers to maintain their facilities.

The Orange/BFA debacle is said to be just a tip of the iceberg as already other sponsors like beMOBILE have complained to Botswana Premier League (BPL), which in turn has written a formal complaint to the Sports Council.

Because of this clash of sponsors on spaces reserved for parameter advertising, premier league teams have now resorted to using venues outside Gaborone, which is costly for fans as they have to bear their own travel expenses to watch their teams play. A classical example is this weekend’s derby between Gaborone United and Township Rollers that had to be moved to Molepolole Sports Complex at the eleventh hour.