Assess sponsor dearth: Baah-Nuakoh to GFA

Former International Relations Manager of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Dr Kwame Baah-Nuakoh has charged the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to critically assess why sponsors pull out of the Ghana Premier League (GPL) so often.

The 2015/16 GPL season currently underway is without a sponsor following the exit of Capital Bank as headline sponsors.

Last month, GN Bank also suspended its sponsorship of the Division One League following acts of violence and vandalism at match venues.

Speaking to Class Sports, Dr Baah-Nuakoh, who is now Senior Vice-President, Marketing, Research, & Corporate Affairs of Royal Bank, Ghana, questioned if sponsors get value for money.

“Do we really think the sponsors get value for money? That the sponsors believe that the money that they are paying to sponsor the league, the FA, and its clubs do enough for them to get the benefits that they were assured? If I come in and every week there is violence at our league matches, you think I want to be associated with that kind of violence? When I cannot be assured of when the league will start? So, I am saying the FA and its clubs should be able to re-evaluate why every sponsor comes in and leaves; [it is] probably because they are not getting the benefit. If they are getting the benefit that they sign up for, nobody will leave,” he stated.

Dr Baah-Nuakoh advised the GFA to take up the task of advertising the Premier League’s games, explaining: “I have been with the football association for years and I have always said that I think the FA also needs to pick up the mantle of advertising league matches. Yes, we know the clubs, they are private clubs, they have a responsibility to advertise their matches, but the product belongs to the FA. Why will somebody else sell another person’s product? When it comes to the control and the regulation, the FA always reminds us that the league is a product of the FA, but when it comes to advertising and marketing the league, it now becomes a product of the clubs.”