The sad reality of resumption of regulated sports with limited avenues for revenues

The sad reality of resumption of regulated sports with limited avenues for revenues

In his national address last Sunday, the President said that sport alongside other mass gatherings like schools and churches could resume with strict adherence to standard operating procedures. There was no mention of whether all the designated two million school finalists countrywide or 70 faithful per church sitting will have to be tested first, but at least those two activities will have some paying customers to lean on.

On the other hand, sports like football can’t call on that. No fans will be allowed in stadia yet. On top of that, and together with other overheads, clubs must test all staff every 14 days for the foreseeable future. A quick calculation places that cost at approximately 8.6bn per season. That is quadruple the annual amount that football gets from its biggest sponsor, StarTimes TV!

Now, if you position those costs alongside falling revenues from matchday income, merchandising, and endorsements, you start to see that football can’t afford to re-start. The only way it would, is if enforcers turn a blind eye to testing or the National Council of Sports paid for the tests. The latter is an unbudgeted item for 2020/21 and therefore very unlikely. 

And yet the crisis continues to rage. Make no mistake: this is a crisis so dangerous it should come accompanied with that skull and cross bones warning symbol. How can it not be when football clubs have spent the last 6 months banging on Fufa’s door with a begging bowl? Or when the Namboole stadium CEO, Jamil Ssewanyana, a man not prone to exaggeration, says all users of the stadium both at club and national level should look elsewhere for alternatives? Netball, basketball, swimming, athletics: they all aren’t insulated from what is going on. There is nowhere to run to. Nothing to lean on.

A solution can perhaps be found in government intervention. Sport needs the kind of rescue package the president announced was available to teachers – Shs20b. But nothing yet has been said in that regard, and clearly sport will not get anywhere near that level of help – a better indication of how Government ranks sport is provided by the turning of Namboole into an isolation centre. Health is more important. No arguments there. Nothing more to say.

And this prioritization has its sensibilities. If we are still wrestling with run-away stage 4 infections and a population that is at once careless and indifferent, public health will be a top priority and sport should be thankful it is re-starting at all. 
Privately many are far from convinced that a return of fans would change anything. After all, across the country, many people have returned to their usual businesses in a manner that suggests that they think the Coronavirus is either a hoax or harmless. It isn’t right. But it is real. 

In the meantime, many people will continue to view sports as a pastime or some form of entertainment that should not be ranked anywhere near health or education. I get that. But sport is much more than just entertainment. Above all, it is the foundation upon which the psychological wellbeing of a nation is premised. And if we can all agree that what we all need now is relief, then how can we continue to miss that? Beats me.

An investment now would surely pay off in the future and that’s the message that NCS should be sending out to government in pleading for more support. I suspect though that a Government whose crisis-management plate is already spilling over is only half listening. And that is at once both understandable and sad.

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Twitter: @MBanturaki