Super League of Malawi (Sulom) says it is excited with the record K113.7 million grossed from Saturday’s TNM Super League match between Silver Strikers and FCB Nyasa Bullets at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe.
Visibly floating on air, the flagship league runners’ vice-president Ronald Chiwaula said in an interview on Saturday that the feat was in line with their Revive, Rebrand and Reform agenda.
“This is unprecedented and it shows that we are on course in tightening the screws as regards gate management,” he said.
“As head of safety and security subcommittee, I am proud that we have reached this milestone.”
Chiwaula also said the turnout and the revenue vindicated Sulom’s insistence that the match should be played at BNS and not Silver Stadium.
“The crowd that patronised the match would have been too big for Silver Stadium,” said Chiwaula.
From the gross, K80.63 million was realised from pre-sale of tickets, K29.89 million from match day sales while K3.2 million came from e-ticketing.
Out of the collection, about K30.62 million went towards expenses such as cashiering firm and security, leaving a net collection of K83.10 million.
The two teams went away with K22.85 million each, which was 55 percent of the net.
On the other hand, stadium owners, Ministry of Youth and Sports, got K20.76 million as ground levy, representing 25 percent of the net.
Sulom received K8.31 million (10 percent) while Football Association of Malawi and Malawi National Council of Sports each got K4.16 million translating to five percent each.
However, Bullets and the ministry felt the gross collection did not reflect the turnout.
In an interview, Bullets acting chief executive officer Albert Chigoga said: “Though we are somehow excited that we grossed K113 million, we still feel the revenue is not a true reflection of the turnout. The attendance was enormously huge.”
On his part, Ministry of Youth and Sports spokesperson Macmillan Mwale said: “That was a record crowd and the generated revenue does not reflect the turnout.
“The management system needs an overhaul if we are to improve in revenue collection. A lot of money is lost through cartels as money changes hands at the gates.”
He also suggested the need to tighten the stadium’s perimeter fence to ensure that some people do not sneak their way in.
“Vetting of tickets also has to be top-notch to address the problem of recycled tickets,” said Mwale.
The pre-match standard ticket f was pegged at K5 000 while on match day it fetched K7 000.
Before Saturday’s match, the record gross revenue in the Super League was K80.49 million realised during last season’s first round Blantyre derby between Mighty Wanderers and Bullets at Kamuzu Stadium.
