R1bn Spurs deal: Tourism expert says sponsorship will benefit SA but DA says it’s ‘lunacy’

A tourism expert has told The Citizen South Africans have to consider the value of the rights of top tier sport teams when it comes to shirt sponsorship in the English Premier League (EPL).

This comes after The Daily Maverick reported that the Department of Tourism, through SA Tourism (SAT), was gearing up to sign off on a deal just short of R1 billion (£42.5 million) over three years to sponsor English football team Tottenham Hotspur.

A source revealed to the publication the proposal dated back to 2017.

Sisulu’s reputation

The Department of Tourism said it had taken note of the report of the R1 billion bid to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur and that the article is nothing more than an attempt to tarnish Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s image.

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Sisulu’s spokesperson Steve Motale hit out at the allegations.

“The article is riddled with inaccuracies and untruths aimed at tarnishing Minister Sisulu’s image. There is no doubt the report seeks to drive a political agenda rather to inform the public truthfully in line with journalism ethos,” he said.

“The reporter falsely claims that Minister Sisulu is forcing SA Tourism to push the deal through before she is moved from the tourism portfolio.” 

SA Tourism matter

Motale said the deal was “purely a SAT board matter”, and as SAT was independent, Sisulu would not “interfere” with its decisions.

“Essentially, the SAT proposal is to conclude a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. It is non-binding. Such a proposal must still pass muster within the Tourism Ministry and is subject to the concurrence of National Treasury, to conform to government prescripts.”

Motale said Sisulu was still waiting for a report and to be briefed by the SAT board.

“It is mischievous to relate this to the imminent cabinet reshuffle.”

English Premier League sponsorships

Speaking to The Citizen, a tourism expert, who asked to remain anonymous, said English Premier League sponsorships are highly sought after.

“The rights SA Tourism would get from this would be include a minimum amount of LED advertising at all home games. Now you must note that EPL is televised in 190 countries. Try buying advertising space week-in and week-out in 190 countries for at least 3 to 5 minutes on TV every match day. That alone will give you a ridiculous amount,” he said.

SA on global scale

He said if South Africa does sponsor Tottenham Hotspur, it will advertise the country on a global scale for nine months of the year.

“Then let’s not forget about digital assets these teams have… no media budget will deliver the value you are looking at for what you get when you partner with a top tier English Premier League club. On the ground, you will have activation rights with fans, you will have Spurs pre-season matches/tours in South Africa.”

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“I think people need to understand what this opportunity will do to promote South Africa. It’s hard to find other properties to venture into that can give this kind of returns. Sport gives you that. If this partnership ensures 300 000 extra people travelling to South Africa at an average spend of R50k, that’s an extra R15 billion into our economy,” said the expert.   

Marketing campaigns

The tourism expert said South African Tourism has not had a major marketing campaign in years.

“This opportunity allows for that and show’s some innovative thinking. Tourism’s overall marketing budget is R2 billion a year, you are only taking R500 million from this annually and allocating it to a project that has massive potential to deliver arrivals for South Africa.”

DA to stop sponsorship

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Shadow Minister of Tourism Manny de Freitas said the party will do everything “in its power to oppose the lunacy” of the sponsorship.

“This idea is even worse than the money allocated for the ANC’s comrades in Cuba, an effort that was stopped by Solidarity in the courts. Our country is in a power crisis. Consumers are being crushed by inflation. There is no way the ANC will be able to condone such a decision in the 2024 election, not even among its staunchest supporters,” De Freitas said.  

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“We will be submitting questions as to how this decision was arrived at and what studies have been undertaken to justify this decision. We will also be tabling this matter at the next Tourism Portfolio Committee meeting.”

Money should be spent elsewhere

De Freitas added the money should rather be spent locally to improve the tourism sector and create jobs to grow the economy.

“It appears that this is yet another glitz and glamour ploy by Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to leave a mark in tourism before the potential redeployment to another department in a soon-to-be announced cabinet reshuffle,” De Freitas said.