Everybody benefits except club owners: Khoza wants teams to monetise matches

Irvin Khoza has vowed to use his next term as chair of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to ensure clubs fully monetise their matches.

Speaking on Wednesday when he announced that the Betway Premiership champions will walk away with R20m, Khoza said as things stand, PSL clubs run what he terms a “puny business”. 

Khoza said the costs of hosting matches have grown substantially in recent years due to strict compliance and this has made it difficult for the clubs, who mostly don’t have sponsors.

“I came up with a term called 'puny business'. And what is a puny business? It means you invest money and there are no returns on that investment, but people are making money off you,” he said. 

“I talk about staging a game, you need about R200,000 to R300,000 to comply with the Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act (Sasrea), regardless of the categorisation of that match.

“This happened because of the 2010 World Cup and we are stuck with those requirements,” he said. Another challenge facing the clubs is that they don't own stadiums. 

“You go to the stadium and you don’t own it, there is no legacy of the World Cup and those stadiums charge money. It may be R150,000, and if it’s a derby it can be over R1m and where do you get that money from? 

“What is worse, we don’t own hospitality rights and you go to some stadiums, they have their own hospitality and security and everything is [for] them and you have no option. You go to the UK, Germany or anywhere else in the world, all the value income streams come to the club. 

“The sad part of it is that you sell the ticket for R40 or R100 for a final and hospitality sell it for R5,000. What is worse in Sasrea is they call it 'value organiser' and if there is liability it comes to you. 

“If somebody dies or is stabbed, you must pay as the value organiser. If it’s possible and I am given time, those are some of the things I am trying to reverse, because everybody is benefiting except club owners and it can’t be right.” 

The PSL supports clubs with monthly grants, mainly derived from television revenue and sponsorships, and Khoza said the league cannot guarantee those payments. 

“We have not put it in the regulations that we can guarantee the grants — that’s why it is a challenge that if possible we can reverse those gains to make sure that we give a chance to the clubs to maximise on their fixtures. 

“Not [as the situation is now] that you have spent and somebody [else] takes the benefits. I had a lot of discussions with [provincial] premiers, MECs, the hierarchy of the police, members of the ruling party.

“At the time when we were dealing with issues of Icasa [the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, on broadcast rights and getting soccer on free-to-air], we went to all political parties to make them aware and we are going to undertake that journey again.

“It is to try to reverse this thing, because it can’t go on. It is not on because you can’t bring the show in town — people activate on that show with no investment in it. When a fixture takes place in any township, the economic spin-offs are unbelievable, but nobody gets paid for it. 

“You take the cheapest ticket, because we are cognisant of the type of supporter we have. We go hard in negotiations for sponsorship. If you go to other clubs internationally, when you look at takings from the gates, hospitality and merchandise, it is a big chunk of income streams. This is a discussion that needs a whole lot people involved.” 

Another matter Khoza would like to address is that sometimes the so-called big clubs are overcharged for players on the local market.

“Unfortunately, there are things that are happening that we try to communicate and they are not newsworthy and we can’t talk about them, but it is painful. Take big teams for instance, you go to buy a player and he is worth R300,000. But because you are a big team, they want R3m and where do you get the extra money because we are sharing the same grant money?

“For some of us, it’s philanthropy and you must have love to be in football and it is not a business. 

“Football is a passion and passion is a painful thing that you can’t measure.”  

Khoza also spoke about the passion of the fans who support football. 

“There is a painful thing that is good for our product and it is that supporters of our football are so knowledgeable, they evaluate everything judicially. In football, when you lose you cry — I have said to you that in rugby they make braaivleis at the stadium when they lose. 

“There is one [Kaizer Chiefs fan] who wanted to travel [by foot] from here in Johannesburg to Tzaneen — he meant it because he invested so much and that is the power of the sport. If you don’t make money, it is a challenge.” 

Khoza is set to stand unopposed for chair when the PSL elects its new executive at its general assembly on November 13.