Bullets make K21m profit from TP Mazembe match

FCB Nyasa Bullets say they have made a K21 million profit from their CAF Champions League second preliminary round home tie against Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) outfit TP Mazembe.

This follows a whopping K88 million gross in entry tickets’ revenue, which surpassed the team’s K75 million target.

The People’s Team chief administration officer Albert Chigoga said after reconciliations, they have made substantive profit.

“We are very satisfied that for the first time ever, we have made such a substantial profit, this has been good business for us,” he said.

However, Chigoga said the profit did not come on a silver platter as they also invested substantially to reap the rewards.

He said: “We invested about K5 million in tightening gate management and security.”

Chigoga said they are planning to transfer the logistics they applied during the match against TP Mazembe to domestic fixtures to maximise revenue.

Having made a K21 million profit, it means Bullets spent approximately K67 million to host the match at Bingu National Stadium in lilongwe.

Said Chigoga: “We tightened security at all access points  by hiring adequate police officers and private security agents from Blantyre, having noted flaws during the match against Dragon FC [from Equatorial Guinea].

“Strict checks on tickets were done to ascertain authenticity of the tickets in full view of our supervisors and the private security. Tickets were torn to control recycling of the same.

“More importantly, we emphasised on pre-sale of tickets and this worked wonders because on the match day, the price was doubled so people opted to buy in advance.”

Fooball pundit Ben Chiwaya said Bullets’ gain is testimony that if well managed, teams can make a fortune from football.

“They are reaping the rewards for running the club as a professional entity and other teams can learn from them,” he said.

Bullets lost the match 0-1 and the reverse fixture is scheduled for September 30 in Lubumbashi.