…unveiling ceremony set for tomorrow
Mikia Kalati
THE Lesotho Premier League Management Committee (PLMC) has agreed a three-year multi-million maloti deal with Econet Telecom Lesotho which will see the latter replace fellow mobile communications company, Vodacom Lesotho as the sponsors of the premier league, the Lesotho Times has learnt.
Econet are no strangers to sponsoring the league as they did so from 2002 to 2009 when Vodacom took over.
Two PLMC committee members yesterday told this publication that the new three-year sponsorship package is worth M2 million and the champions stand to pocket M500 000.
This represents a two and half fold increase on the M200 000 that Bantu received for winning last season’s title.
“It’s true that we have penned a three-year deal with Econet and the launch will take place on Friday evening,” one PLMC member said on condition of anonymity.
“We could not refuse the offer as it was more than double the current deal.
“We have penned a new three-year contract and the package is much, much bigger,” said the source, adding, “Negotiations have been going on for some time and we finally reached an agreement last Friday”.
“The sponsor wants the launch to take place as soon as possible and that is why it is taking place on Friday.
“We have already sent out invitations to the minister of sport.”
The PLMC member said that the new deal had nothing to do with the fact that the clubs only received their prizes for the 2016/17 season this week from Vodacom.
He said it was only because they wanted a bigger deal on the table.
“We felt that the value of the league has gone up and our teams need a bigger deal that will take the standards of the game to another level.
“Luckily Econet responded to our plea and we are happy an agreement has been reached.”
Econet Telecom Lesotho Public Relations Officer, Puleng Litabe, was coy about the latest developments, only telling this publication that something would be happening on Friday.
“There is something happening on Friday and you will be informed about it,” Litabe told this publication yesterday.
