Where others see dust, Seabelo sees gold
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday August 17, 2018 12:23
On Wednesday evening, he signed another broadcasting rights deal, this time with the Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF).
Seabelo told Mmegi Sport that as a visionary he sees more value in the First Division League, largely played on dusty grounds, than the Botswana Premier League (BPL).
“First Division is a feeder of the BPL. The BPL is concentrated in the south while First Division is widespread across the country. That makes it easy to convince potential sponsors,” he said. This week Baboneng Film Productions announced the signing of a five-year deal for exclusive volleyball broadcast rights. Seabelo said they have agreed a 50-50% profit sharing agreement with the BVF. He said they want to avoid a situation whereby sporting codes feel like Baboneng is benefitting more than them.
Seabelo said at the moment he could not state the number of games they are going to broadcast. What is important, he said, is for the games to be broadcast.
“We have just signed with them so we are still working on their fixtures. The plan is to have 40% of the games broadcast live, 20% would be delayed and some of the games will not be covered,” Seabelo said.
He said practically they could not cover all the games. Regarding the First Division, Seabelo said they are covering games in all the stadiums. He said in the north they are going to utilise Francistown’s two stadiums, Selebi-Phikwe, Sowa, Orapa, Serowe and Masunga. In the south, they are looking at the National Stadium, UB, Lekidi, Township Rollers, Molepolole, Otse College, Lobatse and Jwaneng.
“We want a venue which has fibre connection. We are working on an agreement with BoFiNeT to provide us with connection. They gave us a trial when we were broadcasting the BTC Charity Cup. It was a trial period and we wanted to see if the services they provide match what we want,” Seabelo said.
Baboneng has also secured broadcast rights with the Botswana Cricket Association and Botswana Badminton Association. The company is in partnership with South Africa’s ALFACAM to form ALFACAM Botswana.