Bad image robs league of sponsors - Dr Aubynn
Dr Tony Aubynn, the CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, says the Premier League is without a headline sponsor because of the perception that matches are fixed.
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The league has failed to attract a headline sponsor since First Capital Plus Bank (now Capital Bank) suspended a five-year contract indefinitely ahead of the start of the just-ended 2015/2016 season.
The bank signed a five-year deal with the Ghana Football Association in January 2014 worth $10 million, $2 million per season, but halted the deal as part of the "restructuring" of the company.
According to Dr Aubynn the GFA and all stakeholders must do more to shake off such negative perceptions which prevent brands from associating with the Ghana Premier League.
"I don't know whether it’s true, but the perception that football is played inside the room rather than the pitch," Dr Aubynn who is credited with brokering Ghana’s first major corporate sponsorship in sports - a $6.4million six-year contract for the senior national soccer team, the Black Stars, told the Graphic Sports in an interview in Accra last Monday.
"If that were true then it will make sponsorship unattractive because if I were a sponsor my team will play very well but because there had been some engagements outside the pitch another team wins.
"It will be a disaster because any team that sponsors will want to have its brand related to success but I shudder to think that this is the story but if it is not the story we should remove that perception."
He said the dearth of sponsors for the entire league and individual clubs had also resulted in the mass exodus of players to foreign leagues at the end of every season.
"It looks like because of these financial issues, our players are quick to leave the local league. So, at every point in time, every player’s target is to leave when they are not matured enough to leave sometimes."
He also added that the media had a role to play in ensuring that the league was attractive to the corporate world by portraying it as an improving competition.
