The South African president, Ramphosa Cyril, has scheduled a meeting with the country’s tourism authority, South African Tourism (SAT), over the controversial $51.5m sponsorship deal with English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.
The tourism authority, South Africa Tourism (SAT) have provisionally agreed to a three-year deal shirt sponsorship deal with Tottenham starting at the beginning of the 2023/24 season and concluding at the end of the 2026/27 season.
In exchange for the investment, SAT will receive kit branding, interview backdrop branding, match-day advertising, partnership announcements, training camps in South Africa as well as free access to tickets and stadium hospitality.
Khumalo revealed that the north London club had been chosen because it was the only one of the Premier League’s top eight teams that was still available for such a sponsorship deal.
However, in a new twist, a tweet by UtdChronicles showed a video of an excited Khumalo opening a Manchester United-branded box containing the Red Devils’ white away jersey with a large “Visit South Africa” emblazoned on the front of the shirt.
“1.1 billion followers worldwide – if we convert just 1% there’s 110 million. So this is a proposal from Manchester United,” he is heard exclaiming on the video which has been verified, according to UtdChronicles.
🚨🚨| BREAKING!!
A verified video confirms that #mufc sent ‘South African Tourism’ a proposal to sponsor their shirts. The package was received by their CEO, Themba Khumalo. pic.twitter.com/ZsMcz5E4Xs
— UtdChronicles (@UtdChronicIes) February 5, 2023
The Old Trafford club is searching for a new shirt front sponsor “in a normalized market” following a decision to end a deal with TeamViewer which was done at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic for a sum believed to be $56.6 million per year.
This is much less than the $77 million per year deal it had until 2021 with American car manufacturer Chevrolet.
Shortly after news of the proposed Spurs sponsorship deal broke, many of the country’s national sports federations expressed outrage saying the money could be better spent on development projects and financing struggling athletes.
The Congress of SA Trade Unions (COSATU), the country’s biggest trade union federation labeled the proposed deal as a misguided vanity project.
The meeting is likely to be convened before the President’s annual State of the Nation address which takes place at the opening of Parliament on Thursday.
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