What are the facts?

With the rising costs and less sponsors coming on board, clubs are finding it difficult to comfortably sustain themselves in the elite division. Clubs want to compete, and this means that they go out to get quality players who sometimes come with high packages.

When these players have their contracts terminated before their expiration, for various reasons, PSL sides find it difficult to pay out the millions. This is when the trouble starts. There are a number of PSL clubs that have signed foreign players and when things don’t work out, they go their separate ways. But PSL clubs have not always come to the party in terms of making payments. This, the Swallows chairman believes, is because of the reality of rising costs for PSL clubs.

“I don’t wish a transfer ban on anyone. I feel bad for the guys who get banned,” Mogashoa said.

“I’ll give you an example. A normal match at Dobsonville Stadium costs me around R180 000 – that is (for) the stadium venue, security and other stuff. When you play (Kaizer) Chiefs, you are looking at just below R400 000. Imagine every fixture we play at Dobsonville, I must pay around R200 000. Imagine all the other clubs who don’t have sponsors. When you play away fixtures, you must still pay around R70 000 for accommodation, because you need to arrive the day before the match at the hotel. Then you must still pay for flights. Where is that money coming from? It’s coming from the (PSL) grant. By the time you are done, you are left with about R500 000 or R600 000 from the grant. Then you have your salary bill. A salary bill for a club that wants to fight is between R2.5 and R4 million. The problem starts there because now you have salaries you must pay. If you have a business like me, then you must dig into the business to cover those salaries. With clubs like Polokwane City who don’t have sponsors, I understand. I am in there with them. They don’t have extra money coming in. We all get a grant of R2 million plus VAT, which is about R2.3 million. The costs keep going up, but the income remains the same.”