BTC Charity Cup scrapped
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday July 19, 2019 12:42
The one-day spectacular was launched last year as part of a three-year sponsorship deal between the Botswana Premier League and the telecomms group.
However, a year later the local football fans will not watch the season curtain raiser, BPL chief executive officer, Thabo Ntshinogang said.
“There would not be a Charity Cup this season,” Ntshinogang briefly told Mmegi Sport without further explanation.
The absence of the cup fuels speculation that the BPL and BTC’s P39 million deal could be in jeopardy.
Reports are that the telecomms giant has not seen the value of its partnership with the elite league.
The two parties have been in a relationship for the last 11 years. The company first pumped in P15 million in the first three years.
They renewed the deal for the next three years, injecting a further P24 million before the last deal valued at P39 million.
The reports also suggest that the league would not start as planned due to the sponsorship talks.
But Ntshinogang assured that the league would kick off next month, but could not further comment on the matter as he said the Botswana Football Association (BFA) handles the sponsorship negotiations.
“The league is planned on August 17. The issue of BTC sponsorship is still being (dealt with) at BFA level,” he said.
The BPL and BTC have for some time been at loggerheads over a couple of issue including ticketing and televised games.
BTC felt that the company does not get the value of their partnership with the league due to the minimal number of games televised while there has been little to no return from the e-ticketing used by the league teams.