It is a huge improvement from the previous season where champions received half the amount in a league that had no sponsor. But with the FNB sponsorship secured, teams will be rewarded better for their efforts this season. The end of year awards were due to be held on Saturday, but were surprisingly postponed at the 11th hour. Players, coaches and match officials at least have something to look forward to, with the awards carrying up to P100,000 for the player of the season. While the pay-outs represent some positive shift from the previous season, they however, still remain below par.
Most local clubs are struggling to get durable partnerships and are forced to live from hand-to-mouth. Some even fight for gate takings which are also not enough to sustain the team. In a proper set-up, clubs should not rely on grants and prize money to run their teams. This is the very reason why it is not profitable to commercially operate a club in Botswana. The discredited hand-to-mouth approach is killing many clubs as costs of running a team are astronomical. Take Township Rollers for example, they need around P8million a season to run their team yet at the end of the season league champions get P1.4million. Even if they win the Orange FA Cup, the sum does not reach P3million. There is still a shortfall of more than P5million, which gate takings do not cover. So if an investor is to pour P8million per season, and the team makes around P5million, assuming there will be sponsorships of around P2.5million, still the club would make losses.
