Cable TV provider, GOTV plans to spend N20 million on a boxing tournament to be held September this year. Previous winners of the tournament went home with N1.5 million and N 1 million respectively, and the company plans to make the prize money even bigger. The company also intends to expand the scope of the tournament by inviting international boxers to participate.
The event will be chaired by Adewunmi Ogunsanya, and supporters include: Multichoice, Supersport, Bond FM, Brila FM, KSquare Security, Paragonis Media, Newsbreak.ng and Complete Sports
Why sports ?
Nigerians have a passion for sports and entertainment. Football has the biggest followership in the country and the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has sealed key sponsorship deals with Aiteo, an oil and gas company running into billions of Naira. Zenith bank also spends hundreds of millions annually sponsoring a female basketball championship. Sponsoring a boxing tournament is far cheaper than getting involved in football.
Who benefits
The winners who will go get large cash prizes and participants in the tournament who will be paid a stipend for taking part. The referees and other match officials involved will also be paid. As the event grows, it could become a major fixture in the boxing calendar and attract a large audience. Petty businesses located around the boxing ring, will also witness patronage.
What does GOTV gain ?
Nigerians have often complained that multinational companies make billions of Naira as revenue and repatriate to their home countries. Sponsoring a boxing tournament serves as a form of Corporate Social Responsbility (CSR) for the company. It also enhances visibility of its brand, as the event will be given print and radio coverage. Even though the company may have sponsored the event for altruistic reasons, it could make money from it in the long term. Live broadcast of the tournament in 47 countries creates a large viewership the company could monetize by running adverts.
GOTV is a low cost cable television service owned by Multichoice a South African company. GOTV was launched in 2011 and has over 2.5 million subscribers across Africa. The company has sponsored the boxing event since November 2014.
