adminJOHANNESBURG. — Banking giant ABSA and the South Premier Soccer League will be ending their sponsorship relationship at the end of the current season.
The decision comes as somewhat of a surprise, with the two parties having previously announced a new five-year deal signed in 2017.
It’s unclear how this could affect the South African clubs and their capacity to fund investments like buying players from around the continent.
A number of Zimbabwean footballers have found a home in South Africa where Khama Billiat is the highest-paid player in Supa Diski.
The bank started their relationship with the PSL with the ABSA Cup from 2004 to 2007 and then took over the title sponsorship of the league from 2007-2020.
The banking juggernaut have been investing R100-million into the PSL per year since signing an initial R500-million sponsorship deal in 2007.
ABSA head of communications, Songezo Zibi told Daily Maverick the decision to bring the partnership to an end was influenced by the dire economic state which faced the country, even before the emergence of the coronavirus and its further crippling of the economy.
“We actually took account of the state of the economy. This is not a decision we took because of Covid-19. Before Covid-19 we (the country) were facing a downgrade, facing a recession, probably negative growth for a couple of quarters to come — so the outlook wasn’t very good,” said Zibi.
“So, the decision was whether we’re able to continue to extend the relationship further, or we end this particular relationship, which is that of being title sponsor of PSL. And we took a decision that we wouldn’t be able to.”
It is not yet known what impact losing such a major sponsor will have on the PSL, which is currently scrambling to ensure that their season is completed before the FIFA deadline of 31 July. An abandoned season would result in the league losing out on millions in broadcast revenue.
In a joint statement released by the bank and the league, PSL chairman Irvin Khoza stated that the era of the ABSA Premiership was one of the best in the history of South African football.
“The ABSA Premiership era will, forever, be a reference point for football glory, both in terms of club development and player performance in our sports history. The PSL is grateful to Absa for strengthening the league to true professionalism,” said Khoza.
“Memory is a prized component for football followers around the world. The period of 2007 to 2020 will forever be etched in the memories of football fans as a highpoint in the PSL.”
Zibi added that the decision was one they had taken some time ago; however, he didn’t want to go into detail on when exactly the decision to terminate the relationship was taken.
“You don’t want to, in the middle of the season, to start announcing that you’re going to cancel the sponsorship when you still have got a long way to go in the season.
”So, it’s important that you make these announcements as close to the end of the season as possible, while giving the PSL sufficient time to finalise alternative arrangements,” Zibi stated.
Attempts to get additional comment from the PSL were unsuccessful at the time of publication, with PSL media manager Lux September stating that the league were currently locked in a board of governors meeting. ABSA head of sponsorships, Mtunzi Jonas, clarified the matter.
“It was three years. What you find with most sponsorships, not just this one, is that you’ve got an initial term and then have an option to extend,” Jonas told KickOff.com.
“So, our agreement was a three-year agreement. At the end of the agreement, we would then say if we wanted to continue for longer or not.”
Jonas also made it clear that the reason for their split from the Premiership had nothing to do with the PSL, while the Covid-19 pandemic and the suspension of the league also had little-to-no impact on their decision.
“The economic impact was there way before Covid, and I don’t think the timing matters. The point is that ABSA is a business, like any other, and the senior leadership of the company has taken a decision which they feel is best for the company,” he explains.
“It definitely isn’t about Covid. The timing on a lot of these decisions is [that] you don’t just give someone a month’s notice, the runway for these types of decisions is quite long.
“There’s no business in the world that hasn’t been impacted in the last few years. Covid has obviously made it a lot worse but, like I said, this is not a knee-jerk reaction.
“There was a review that was done over a long time period in conjunction with everything — it’s not just this [sponsorship] but it’s an assessment of the whole business, all the sponsorships and all the operations.
“There were no issues, nothing happened [that led to this], it’s just a business decision that was taken, and you guys [media] knew about it, it was the worst-kept secret for months, and that shows it’s not linked to anything that happened recently.” — Daily Maverick/KickOff.com.
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