Daily Independent (Lagos)
Ejiro Femi-Babafemi
10 July 2009
Lagos — Lagos State Government is projecting a cash injection of about N50 million from Sunday's Federation Cup (formerly National Challenge Cup) final match.
This was disclosed by the state Youth, Sports and Social Development Commissioner, Ademola Adeniji-Adele, while highlighting the benefits of hosting the tournament to the state government, despite the short notice it got about being its host.
Adeniji-Adele foresees the final match between Enyimba FC of Aba and Sharks of Port Harcourt as a crowd puller because of the ratings of both teams.
The third place match is between Lobi FC and league champions, Bayelsa United.
"There would be food vendors, the hospitality industry would not be left out and other business entrepreneurs, both on the big and small scale, would be available within or outside the stadium. By the time you aggregate the returns, it should be around N50 million," he said.
Adele's primary objective is to ensure that the state emulate what happens in other countries, especially, Europe, where the economic benefit of sports is exploited for the benefit of their countries.
"We were at the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, and we saw how much came into the economy. During the tournament, the Rugby championship and Cricket were staged. And just last week, the African qualifiers of the FIFA Beach Soccer Tournament took place in Durban, also in South Africa. You can imagine the billions of dollars the organisers would have realised," he told Daily Independent.
The state has already been given the rights to host next year's edition.
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