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sports
Daily
D
AILY Monitor
MONITOR
WWW.MONITOR.CO.UG
During the Zuku University Basketball League, MTN branding was very prominent in the arena despite the company having nothing to do with the tournament. PHOTOS BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
league sponsorship in the 2013 season.
Fuba are said to have been agitated
MTN by obstructing some of the telecommunications branding inside the
stadium during last seasons league.
We wanted to reduce on their branding and to also protect our sponsors,
argues Fubas Tashobya.
In response, MTN ahead of this
years new campaign - comprehensively branded the indoor stadium in
their colours. Today, everywhere you
turn in and around the arena is MTN
and yellow.
Airtel were clearly uncomfortable
with the development. Our sponsors
told us that we either play at Lugogo
and lose the partnership or move to
YMCA as a solution to the impasse is
sought, adds Tashobya.
Over the years we have worked
with our corporate friends, including
MTN, to develop the game. So we are
not fighting MTN at all.
The only way our sponsor can get
value for money is through branding,
which is not the case now.
Elsewhere in the world, companies have naming rights of indoor
stadiums but because their contracts
are workable; if you have your activity you can take over branding temporarily and at the end of your event
you take off your branding.
It is not clearly stated (in the
MOU) how much percentage MTN
controls on branding. We should for
example know; is it 50 percent, 70 per
cent?
We have lost a lot because games
are not at the arena, a government facility. We had secured some local TVs
while others like SuperSport were
also interested to show the games
this season, but that would only happen at the Lugogo Arena.
We have lost following because a
certain class are more comfortable
watching in the comfort of Lugogo.
Plus, because of the nature of YMCA,
the quality of the game has also been
affected.
MOU to be reviewed
Tashobya adds: Going forward,
what we want from NCS and the
Sports Minister is to meet MTN and
sort the issue of branding; the MOU
needs to be reviewed
and we do not want at any
point to directly deal with MTN re-