The Nigerian football league has a new sponsor, an official has said.
This was dicslosed by Shehu Dikko, the chairman of the League Management Company (LMC).
The news broke on Friday on Twitter that the LMC is to unveil Bitnob, a Nigeria startup, as the new elite sponsor of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
In a Twitter post on Saturday, Dikko, a second vice-chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), retweeted an official release from the NPFL.
It reads, “Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and Bitnob Technologies Inc have firmed up a multi-year sponsorship agreement.
“The League Management Company (LMC) and Bitnob Technologies Inc, a leading financial technology company have reached an understanding for the sponsorship of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
“Shehu Dikko, Chairman of the LMC said the two parties will meet on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in Lagos to officially unveil the partnership and make public important details of the relationship.
“He said negotiation for the partnership was painstaking to ensure that Bitnob and the NPFL will have a mutually beneficial alliance to project the Fintech brand through the domestic league, as well as enhance and support the strategic growth of the NPFL.
“Bitnob, a company that provides payments solutions and other financial services for individuals and businesses will be partnering the league as an Elite Sponsor in the Financial Technology category.”
ALSO READ: ANALYSIS: Why Nigerian footballers prefer obscure foreign leagues to NPFL
Dikko had explained in April 2020 the sponsorship model the NPFL hoped to put in place. He said, “since the end of the 2015 season, the LMC decided to drop the title sponsorship module in favour of the multi-sponsorship model which is the elite sponsors based on industry categorisation.
”The idea implies that if you sign a title sponsor and pay N750m annually. That somewhat, means the revenue for the league stops at that. But if you now go for elite sponsors, like having maybe eight companies, based on the industry and earn an average of N300 million from each, you can now raise like N2.4 billion annually.
“And all the brands will run and promote the NPFL brand. So the elite sponsor model has more benefits both financially and brand-wise and we adopted it in December 2015,” he explained.
The LMC had unveiled bet9ja last September as an “Official Supporter/Sponsor of the NPFL” and Hero Lager Beer as a sponsor for clubs in the eastern part of the country.
Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility
Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.
By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.
TEXT AD: Call Willie - +2348098788999
