Bullets budget shoots to K480m
Nyasa Big Bullets have said they need to raise at least K210 million to meet their estimated K480 million budget for the 2018 coming season.
According to records, the club spent close to K300 million last season.
The People’s Team chief executive officer (CEO) Fleetwood Haiya said they are hoping to get K100 million from their sponsors—Nyasa Manufacturing Company (NMC)—and K70 million through gate collections.
“That leaves us with a K210 million deficit which we hope to raise from marketing drives such as sale of merchandise and space on our uniform and team bus,” he said.
Haiya also said they have opened up to potential corporate partners that can use the People’s Team brand as a vehicle to market their products.
“We delight in the glory of having the biggest fan base and we are, therefore, calling on market leaders from any sector to partner us and use the team as a tool to market their brand.
“There is a lot more that we can offer—they can also benefit by using any of our players as their brand ambassadors and also through media conferences where they can place their banners,” said the Bullets boss.
He also said as a way of maximising revenue, the team will step up their membership drive and sale of merchandise.
“Now that the club is registered as a company, we want to come up with proper structures of carrying out such initiatives.
“And as a starting point, we will no longer allow people to be making money at the expense of the club through the sale of merchandise like T-shirts, caps, scarves, mugs and bangles. As soon as we put the structures in place, we will be producing such items and then they can be selling them on our behalf on agreed terms,” said Haiya.
He added: “We are in the process of engaging coordinators at zonal, district and regional levels through which our products can be easily accessed.”
On the membership drive, the Bullets CEO said they are going to have a platform on the Internet through which members can access latest news, results and fixtures via a short code.
“We are no longer running the team as a social entity. We need to move with the times and run it like a business,” he said.
However, while such initiatives have proved a flop before at Bullets, the club’s former chairperson Kondi Msungama believes with proper structures, it could be a success this time around.
“In the past, like during my time, it was difficult because there were no proper structures. Every Jim and Jack wanted to run such initiatives. The other challenge was funding to sustain such programmes.
“But since the club is now a limited company and has sound sponsorship, I believe if they can have structures in place, it will work. The only challenge though is that there are still some grey areas surrounding the takeover which new owners—NMC—need to formalise,” he said.
