NPL, Glo in face-off over money
NPL, Glo in face-off over money
Posted: 2009-08-14 19:02
A public spat has broken out between the Nigerian Premier League and sponsors Glo over the disbursement of N9-million in appearance fees and prize-money for next week’s season-opening Super Four tournament.
The NPL have been irked by Glo’s decision to disburse the payments directly to the four participating clubs, and chairman Oyuiki Obaseki has publicly declared that the situation is unacceptable.
“Globacom as the sponsor of the event does not have the absolute right to carry out directly the payment for appearance fees and prize-money to teams participating in the 2009 edition of the Glo Super 4 on our behalf,” Obaseki declared in typically uncompromising style.
According to him, Globacom Limited are the sponsors of the Globacom Premier League while Nigeria Premier League are the sole organisers of the League.
“It is the statutory responsibility of the Nigeria Premier League, the organiser of the Glo Super 4 Cup, to handle the procedure of payment. From inception, NPL has always been paying appearance fees of N500 000 per club, including free accommodation, with the winners getting N5-million and runners-up getting N3-million as prize-money.”
This year, Glo decided to change the format by upping the appearance fees to N1-million, but slashing the prize-money to N3-million for the winners and N1.5-million for the runners-up. They also chose to pay the monies directly to the clubs.
That change has drawn the ire of the NPL hierarchy and sent Obseki on the warpath.
“The format is ridiculous and tends to bring the league to disrepute, placing us in a retrogressive position rather than progressive,” he said.
Obaseki also made it clear that the situation will not be accepted by the NPL.
“Glo’s payment format will not be acceptable and NPL will revert to the old payment format with winner getting N5 million, runners-up N3 million and the appearance fee at N1 million per club,” the chairman declared.
The Super Four takes place at the Ilorin Township Stadium from August 18 to 22 and will be followed by the League Awards Gala.
Champions Baylesa United will be joined by runners-up Heartland, Enyimba and Warri Wolves.
Have you discussed this topic on Team KICK OFF? Click Here...
Comment on this article:
TERMS OF USE: The comments posted below do not reflect the views of KickOff.com. Users are reminded that no misuse of this comment facility will be tolerated. Any abusive, racist or inflammatory comments will be deleted and the user banned. Please report abusive posts to editor@kickoff.com