By Keke Roy

It was pomp and color last year in August when the betting firm Sportpesa was unveiled as the new KPL tile sponsors. The deal is to run for four years until 2019 and it comes with lucrative packages each year. Stakeholders saw it as an avenue that would spur the Kenyan soccer to the next level, little did they know about the deal.

It was alleged that the deal would empower clubs financially to reduce the common choruses of players’ boycotts and match abandonment’s due to unpaid salaries. The top tier League’s nomenclature was changed to the “Sportspesa Premier League,” with immediate effect, an indication that the sponsors were serious about the new changes.

Pledges were made, such as the long-term objective of the partnership was to see Kenya qualify for the 2022 world cup. One would be forgiven to ask how Harambee Stars could qualify for the international showpiece if beating the likes of Ethiopia and Lesotho is still an uphill task.

All the adjectives were used to describe and decorate the deal, promising us that young talents will be nurtured, the KPL league developed and players’ grievances sorted. We are still patient and hope that the promises will come to fruition.

The Real Value:

The funny thing is that the unveiling was done, but the actual amount and details of the entire deal kept under wraps. It is apparent that the value of the sponsorship package did not see the light of the day, until now, but parties privy to the deal estimate that it was around Kshs. 80 million remitted in yearly basis.

This implies that the total amount would be between Kshs. 360 and 400 million with an adjustment clause of almost 10 percent annually.

Now, let me treat that as a rumor because the insiders do not want us to know what is cooking in their kitchens. I tend to believe that the so-called insiders do not like the words accountability and transparency, which prompted them to hide the true value of the package.

Does that ring a bell to anyone there? The reason for not releasing the details was baptized as “Contractual obligations.” According to Oxford dictionary, a contractual obligation refers to the duties that every party is legally responsible for in an agreement. So how do the duties of KPL and Sportspesa affect the disclosure of the exact amount of the entire deal? I leave that here for another forum.

We were also meant to believe that the deal was way much “better” that what Tusker, through EABL, were offering initially. During the launch, it was announced, upon applause from the club CEOs, that teams were to start feeling the impact of the new sponsorship because of the impending increases in grants to clubs and an additional rise in the prize money from 4million shillings to a “Better amount.”

You realize that the word “better” is appearing in most of the areas where money is supposed to be quoted as if it depicts an amount in US Dollars! It came became known or rumored that the prize money would reach kshs 10million in the new season of 2016. So how does the sponsorship enhance competitiveness if clubs, like Gor Mahia, are spending much higher in transfer transactions and monthly operational costs compared to the final amounts being fought for?

Fast Forward to January 2016

Deliberations from a Mombasa meeting attended by the 16 club CEOs, KPL management and Supersport Broadcasting Company indicate contradicting information pertaining to the monetary allocations and adjustments. According to an article on Soka.co.ke , it reports that clubs’ grants from the KPL had increased by Kshs. 500,000 for the 2016 season.

This is an increment of half a million, which equates to the sum total of Kshs 8million each season from the previous shs 7.5 million. Contrastingly, the winners will also get a boost of a mere Kshs 500,000 to receive a prize of 4.5 million! The only notable changes are the prizes won by second placed (Shs 2million), third placed (shs 1.5 million) and fourth place finisher, getting shs 1 million, which were not there in the previous seasons.

The excuse of all excuses offered to the marginal rise in grants is that the market forces in the stock exchange affects the value of the South African Rand against the Kenyan Shilling. If that is the case, then why does it not affect the administrative costs incurred by the KPL body? So does it mean that the KPL uses clubs to solicit for funds that help them in settling administrative costs? The prize money was to be a whopping shs 10 million according to a series of interview responses offered by the KPL management officials.

This was to take place from this season and the club chairpersons were to approve the changes before the preparation of the budget. Now, why is it that before the preparation of the said budget, they have already tagged the prize money at shs 4.5million? Is the deal worth the hype it is receiving across the country as the best deal ever in the history of the KPL? I believe there is something we are not told concerning the sportspesa Deal.

The writer is just a local football enthusiast who claims to know something, but knows nothing. I am here to share and learn something.

Twitter: @IAmKekeRoy

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com