Can sports clubs afford Covid tests?

Can sports clubs afford Covid tests?

Many of the club managers argue that they cannot afford to test players every after two weeks like the guidelines require.

By ABDUL-NASSER SSEMUGABI

As the sports fraternity prepares to resume after a six-month ban to curb the spread of the coronavirus, new issues have arisen due to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) attached to the reopening.
During his address to the nation on Sunday, President Museveni allowed outdoor sports to resume, but without spectators in the arenas, and the players must test for Covid-19, 72 hours prior and every after 14 days.
The different club managers shared their concerns with Daily Monitor, especially about the prohibitive sum of money that clubs must incur in a season.

Mr Henry Mayeku,  the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Football Club (FC)’s new chief executive officer, admits that the revenue collectors have to contend with an expenditure they did not plan for.
“For the start, sports entities must shoulder this very heavy burden and show commitment to the SOPs as we negotiate for a more viable atmosphere,” Mr Mayeku said.
Covid-19 testing costs Shs240,000 per person in a government hospitals, while in a private facility it costs Shs350,000 per person.
So testing 60 people, for instance, might cost URA Shs21 million in one session.
 
If it must be done in 18 weeks, as the President directed, it bulges into a staggering Shs378 million at the end of the season.
That is more than twice the Shs128 million Federation of Uganda Football Associations (Fufa) distributed among the 16 clubs after the StarTimes Uganda Premier League as prize money. 
Champions SC Vipers bagged Shs60 million while runners-up Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) FC took home Shs20 million and fifth-placed URA Shs5 million.

KCCA’s cost also hovers above Shs300 million (using the Shs240,000 rate) if it must subject its 70-member staff to routine testing twice every month for nine months.
The KCCA chief executive officer (CEO), Ms Anisha Muhoozi, reckons that it is a huge burden.
“We did not foresee or plan for this yet even the small revenue stream, that is gate collection, is also blocked,” she said.
She adds: “We are in uncharted waters, we need to tread carefully, and forge the best way out.”

The losses
Ugandan club football is still struggling to lure the fans back to the stadia to boost their revenue. 
 But now even the few will not be allowed to access the arenas.
Mr Sula Kamoga, the Wakiso Giants CEO, said last season the Purple Sharks gathered around Shs150 million from the gates, with fans paying between Shs5,000 and Shs20,000 per match.
Express CEO Isaac Mwesigwa said the gate collection, which is only 25 per cent of a club’s revenue, is unpredictable, hence the need for clubs to devise other means of revenue.
However, Mr Kamoga reckons: “Gate collection is little money compared to our annual expenditure but if we cannot earn it, business is made even harder.”

According to Ms Muhoozi, KCCA’s estimated revenue from gate collection ranges between Shs250 million and Shs300 million, when they are playing on the continent. 
Other sources say one big game like the one against SC Villa has the potential to fetch Shs50 million.
URA’s Mayeku says the loss of playing without fans transcends gate collection. 
“We also lose visibility and the relationship with our sponsors,” he said, adding that the club must now devise innovative ways of marketing itself to the fans and partners.
“That shall require better and consistent engagement to leverage on the media (both social and mainstream), though that also means more expenditure.”

What’s viable?
All club officials Daily Monitor interviewed concurred that even though testing is paramount, conducting them every after 14 days is very costly and nearly unfeasible.
“Even if we afford it, who are our competitors? We are not in business if they are not,” Mr Muhoozi says.

So what’s feasible?
On Monday, the head of communications at Fufa, Mr Ahmed Hussein, told Daily Monitor that the burden of clubs footing the testing bills will be heavy for the clubs.
“Of course as Fufa, we cannot just look on but we shall need concerted effort from the clubs, us as Fufa and government. These will be addressed when we meet with NCS,” Mr Hussein said.

That concerted effort, club CEOs said, should result in the persuasion of government to subsidise the testing for clubs.
“We hope Fufa can negotiate with government for group tests at lower cost that is affordable to all…,” Mr Muhoozi said. 
He added: “We are waiting for their communication in that regard, perhaps by the end of this week.”
Wakiso’s Kamoga said the club can afford the one-time testing and can monitor the players in their club house, for the start but beyond that, it is difficult. 

He said he expects Fufa to lobby for free testing centres and stimulus fund to clubs, “as it is extended to other sectors, because we too employ people.”
Mr Mwesigwa says besides the testing, Express need to get the players and the club secretariat ready for the season amid observing the SOPs. 
But spending about Shs15 million on testing the 50 staff every fortnight is “not cost effective at all.”
Villa’s Sean Mubiru remained tight-lipped “until Fufa pronounces itself clearly on the matter.”

The other lot
Meanwhile, the extended ban on indoor sports leaves boxing and basketball in more dilemma.
The boxing qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed due to the coronavirus disruptions, were rescheduled to between February and May 2021. 
With indoor sports and gyms still suspended, how will the athletes prepare?
Fuba cancelled the 2020 National Basketball League season, but scheduled men’s national team engagements in November. 
The current impasse threatens that fixture as well.