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Sports Reporter
THE country’s most followed football clubs Highlanders and Dynamos clash this afternoon at the National Sports Stadium in the TM Pick n Pay Challenge Cup. With the league programme heavily congested and set to end in December, there was an outcry from some PSL board of governors who reportedly wanted a share of the cake for their clubs who are not participating in the competition.

According to media reports, the 14 clubs’ representatives were demanding that they be paid $5,000 each by the tournament organisers.
It seems these clubs wanted to exploit the value of the Highlanders and Dynamos brands as most can hardly fill a classroom with paying fans.

Saturday Leisure spoke to Fifa accredited administrator Nhlanhla Bahlangene Dube on branding of clubs and how it can help them attract partners.
“It all starts from understanding the business of football as an entertainment industry. Football competes with the Machesos, Lovemore Majaivanas, your comedians like Babongile Skhonjwa and Iyasa for consumers.

“People are entertained at a theatre in this case a stadium and if the display is interesting then the consumers of the product return again to watch football. If more people come since football is a billboard for advertising it attracts marketeers who are lured by big numbers.

“I will go further, expanding on the entertainment sector of football which produces actors who are the players and people come to watch your Jostas (Joel Ngodzo) or any other player who excites them.

“It must be noted that players are entertainers and that is why you find the likes of Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Chelsea or Manchester United affording to buy highly rated players because they understand the value of entertaining.

“The other way to lure numbers is to play an attractive brand of football because if you don’t perform well, then people won’t come to the stadia. A club must create an appetite for its consumers and then marketeers,” he said.

Dube noted that most administrators had a wrong perception about football business.
“I have heard people talking about football business being about selling players but that is not the priority, football business is about entertainment.

Because of the entertainment value that teams like Manchester United, Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates and here Highlanders and Dynamos provide, that is why you find advertisers (sponsors) flocking to use their brands for marketing purposes. Branding starts with understanding business and that is why you find that there are more advertisers for television matches because of the pull factor.

“Attractive brands appeal to marketeers who come to football not because of the love of soccer but for purely marketing value. What clubs must know is that a football player is an advertising billboard, a football shirt is an advertising billboard, a football match on its own is a billboard and even a stadium is a billboard. As such, clubs must maximise on these to generate revenue,” Dube said.

He challenged club administrators to be dynamic thinkers so that they attract corporate partners.
Instead of being cry babies, clubs must be innovative and think about ways of turning around their fortunes.

They have to embark on drives to attract consumers of their product, that is spectators, so that in turn they are able to lure advertisers.
The 14 clubs appeared to try to be mischievous on the TM Cup as it is not the first tournament where teams have been handpicked. In the past, organisers chose teams of their choice for the Independence Cup, Heroes Cup, Bob Super Cup and CG Msipa tournaments.