Telecom company Globacom has agreed to a 1.9B naira ($12M) sponsorship deal with the Nigeria Premier League, according to SUN NEWS ONLINE. The deal, announced at the Mike Adenuga Towers in Lagos, will run "for the next three years." In the breakdown of the package, the league would receive the sum of 550M naira ($3.5M) in the first year, with a 10% increment "in the second and third years respectively" (SUN NEWS ONLINE, 5/7). The PREMIUM TIMES' Aderonke Ogunleye wrote after two seasons without a sponsor, the Nigerian Professional Football League "finally sealed a major deal." The sponsorship of the Nigerian Premier League, now Nigerian Professional Football League, "had been enmeshed in crisis with two telecommunication giants, MTN and indigenous company, Globacom, battling to be named the official sponsors of the league." League Management Company COO Salihu Abubakar said that "club owners will benefit from the sponsorship deal." Abubakar: "Definitely club owners will get a share of the money accordingly, we are all working together, some money will be given to them for their own club use" (PREMIUM TIMES, 5/7).
NEW BEGINNINGS: The DAILY TRUST's Orkula Shaagee wrote that the title sponsor "has promised to support all efforts by the league body aimed at making the apex football league in the country attractive." Globacom COO Mohamed Jameel said Globacom's primary reason for sponsoring the league "is to develop Nigerian football." LMC Chair Hon Nduka Irabor "described the event as a new beginning for the Nigerian football league" (DAILY TRUST, 5/8).
