The drawn-out saga of the Chippa United sponsorship renewal ended on Thursday when the Nelson Mandela Bay council gave the deal the thumbs-up that will keep the top-flight team in the city for another three years.
The R13.5m-a-year sponsorship was ideally supposed to have been wrapped up before the team’s preseason in July, but it was beset with delays caused by confusion at City Hall.
The report on the sponsorship was deferred by Bay mayor Gary Van Niekerk in August.
At the time, Van Niekerk said there were outstanding questions about a relocation fee that formed part of the proposed sponsorship agreement.
However, sport, recreation, arts & culture political head Bassie Kamana said the withdrawal of the item was due to a misunderstanding.
Three months later the report returned to the council and was adopted on Thursday with full support from parties.
The metro will bankroll the team with R6m a year.
The agreement also comes with an anchor tenant agreement — called a relocation fee — that guarantees the team R7m a year if they remain in top-flight soccer.
An additional R500,000 for marketing would be given to the franchise, known as the Chilli Boys.
Chippa United chief operations officer Lukhanyo Mzinzi said they were happy with the ongoing support from the municipality.
“The municipality is our longest-running partner,” he said.
“The relationship has been good for us and also the people of the metro who have had the opportunity to enjoy top-flight soccer for nearly 10 years now,” Mzinzi said.
Chippa moved to Nelson Mandela Bay in 2014 from Cape Town after being promoted from the national first division.
Despite not having the funding ahead of the team’s preseason, Mzinzi said they had managed to start the season well.
“The fans will have seen that the team has started really well and we hope to finish the season strong.
“But looking ahead, the team will continue to contribute to development in the metro and province.
“Local players are commanding the starting line-up. Every time we travel we have two or three local boys.
“There is a good group of players from [elsewhere in] the province and we are happy about that,” he said.
Kamana said he was happy the deal had been approved.
“The benefit of having the club here is immense, but people unfortunately focus on the [money] at face value,” he said.
“Every year the city gets double that as a return of investment through sport tourism.”
HeraldLIVE
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