Tottenham… who’s that?

The much talked-about proposed R1bn South African Tourism and Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship deal has left so many unanswered questions in the minds of our people. The confusion, through lack of adequate information and details on the matter, has not helped the cause at all.

For starters, not even the government communication department could articulate the background, t he vision, aim and purpose of this move. To even t hrow t he spanner in t he works, we are t old t he London club was ready t o make an official announcement on the controversial deal last week already. The very same week we woke up t o t he news, for t he first t ime, which means t his is somet hing t hat has been going on behind t he scenes, right under our noses! Word on the street has it that this is a move t hat has been in mot ion for a couple of mont hs already, alt hough very few people knew about it. Why Tottenham Hotspur? Why go t he English Premier League rout e? Once again, what has become evident is lack of t ransparency t hat ’s laced wit h arrogance or lack of knowledge even from t he government officials who are supposed to be leading t he way in t his whole process. It has become apparent t hat t his is a replica of t he failed R22m Sout h African flag project that was dismissed by the citizens before it could even see the light of day, also thanks t o poor informat ion and lack of consult at ion and foresight .

We are told the sponsorship money will be coming from the Tourism budget, not necessarily from t he t ax payers, and one of t he condit ions is t hat t his budget should be spent outside of the country. That means, t his budget – wherever it is coming from – is not meant for int ernal use but rat her should be used t o fost er relat ions wit h t he out side world. More time spent on just this condition, the rationale behind it and where this budget comes from would have avoided a lot of what has become a cont ent ious issue. The sad part, however, is that even those who are t asked wit h disseminat ing t he informat ion seem eit her ill-informed or not det ailed enough. Subsequently, they get dismissive and lack t olerance for t hose who don’t seem ‘to get it’, which are two of the most dangerous weaknesses for any public office represent at ive. When dealing wit h people, t ime and t olerance should be at t he forefront because not all of t hem will underst and at t he same level. More import ant ly, it is advisable t o arm yourself wit h as much informat ion on t he subject as possible, just in case you come across more quest ions t han ant icipat ed and you can give sat isfact ory answers. You can’t give proper answers on somet hing you’re not well-versed on.

For all intents and purposes, this huge amount is probably not coming from our coffers as a count ry, which could ex plain the condition of it being used outside our borders. This is a huge amount of money in a country that has been forced to accept random power outages as second nature. A country with a high unemployment rate and a country that has seen the poor become even poorer. Now, more quest ions t hat need t o be answered are about SA Tourism’s plans for this sponsorship! How are we going t o leverage t he right s and benefit s t hat are ex pect ed t o come from t his sponsorship so that they benefit our country, at the end of t he day? Having wit nessed sponsorship deals in foot ball, one underst ands t hat t here is a difference bet ween a sponsorship and a donat ion. Sponsorship is an invest ment , not a charit y case, and t herefore t here must be a return on investment for the sponsorship relat ionship t o cont inue and become a success. Like any invest ment , you can’t put in R1bn and get just R6m back. So, what is the projected return on this sponsorship/investment? If you invest R1bn over t hree years and promise a ret urn of R88bn wit hout any details on how this will come about, it is tantamount to a t humb suck. How do you work that return out? Our people deserve t o know t hese t hings, but the fact that very little consultat ion seems t o have t aken place is a serious concern.

There are marketing experts who have been heavily involved in sports tourism, for instance, and t hey’ve played crit ical roles in host ing major sport ing event s. Surely t hese are just some of t he people who should have been consulted before this decision was even tabled for consideration. There are a lot of insights even from people dealing with sport sponsorship and the number of tournament s t hat have been host ed and are st ill upcoming, who could have also helped. You can’t t alk about sport sponsorship, engaging Tottenham – a football team – without involving sport people. Yes, t his is a Tourism SA initiative, but it is done through sport, which necessitates the involvement of SA Sport Tourism to ensure the understanding of t he business of t ourism. Maybe wit h sport people’s involvement , a different t eam could have been chosen looking at the huge following your Liverpool, Manchest er Unit ed, Manchester City and others enjoy in our count ry, more so t han Tot t enham. Yes, t he Premiership is broadcast all over the world and enjoys massive following in our country and any relationship with that league is of value because of it s int ernat ional appeal. However, what are t he object ives of SA Tourism and how do t hey ex pect t he awareness that will come from appearing in the Lilywhites’ jersey will influence our tourism? Having a sleeve sponsorship or messaging in t he elect ronic boards at t he st adium won’t guarant ee an influx of t ourist s. There is a lot of work that goes into impacting t ourism because it is not like Sout h Africa is an unknown tourist destination. The world is aware of what we have in store, it is just a matter of us turning that awareness into numbers rather than trying to amplify it even more.

We are t alking about a count ry t hat host ed the biggest sporting event on earth, in the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, Cricket World Cup and we will now have t he Net ball World Cup in July, and it is for t hat reason t hat you can’t compare us t o Rwanda, who have a similar sponsorship deal wit h Arsenal. There are so many ot her int ernat ional tournaments that we host and it is not like we don’t get worldwide media coverage like Rwanda. We have t he loadshedding and high crime rate that are not doing any justice to initiatives that seek to market our country. Maybe, just maybe, these are some of t he issues t hat we should t ry t o spend more t ime on. There is massive power in sponsorship, but there’s equally a huge risk of loss involved when things aren’t done correctly. The allegat ion of t he CEO being linked wit h t he agency involved in t he deal isn’t helping eit her, as it suggest s someone set t ing t hemselves a t hrough pass, one-on-one wit h t he goalkeeper. If the opportunities that come with this sponsorship are not leveraged properly, t his will be anot her failed project for t he masses and only help a select few t o line their pockets. While details are a bit sketchy, it is possible that SA Tourism negot iat ed a super deal t hat will go a long way in enhancing our t ourism indust ry, but only t ime will t ell. For now, we can only ask t he quest ions since not enough informat ion has been made available.