Gaborone — Botswana Premier League clubs through their delegates are expected to bless the commencement of the 2023-24 elite league season at the Annual General Assembly (AGM) slated for September 2.
Once they give the nod, the league will start on September 16.
This is according to the information from the Botswana Football League (BFL) chief executive officer, Senzo Mbatha, who said the decision was taken during the BFL Board meeting held on August 16 where other dates for important footballing activities were also proposed.
"Among other things, it was resolved that the draft fixtures given to member clubs for appreciation.This follows encouraging new developments that all our elite league clubs have fulfilled the Club License requirements.
The member clubs will then have the opportunity to comment before the final endorsement is made at the General Assembly," he said in a release.The league will be expected to conclude on June 1 next year.
Concerning sponsorship for the league, which BFL has been struggling to find after the expiry of their deal with the Botswana Telecommunication Corporation (BTC), Mbatha indicated that they had channeled all their efforts in engaging the corporate sector to sponsor elite football.
"The plan and desire is to kick-start the 2023-24 football season with a headline sponsor and as things stand, the BFL can confidently confirm that it has concluded negotiations with Botswana Television and an agreement has been reached for sponsorship rights at the tune of P8 million," he said. Mbatha said further, they had also concluded discussions with Vision View TV for the station broadcast through its online digital form for games that Btv would not be able to broadcast.
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"This is another revenue stream where the league will generate income for its member clubs.
The deal shall run for three years. We also reached an agreement with ViB Mobile to become the league's online fan engagement partner.
This will play a pivotal role in helping the league to engage with football supporters through the usage of mobile value-added services," he said.
Mbatha said in essence, this season, they wanted spectators to play a meaningful role in voting for Man of the Match, Player of the Month and Coach of the Month.
"This company will create SMS short code for the above categories and more details will be shared at the time and date when BFL launches the start of the new campaign," he said.
Mbatha also said other activities that were expected to be given the green light by delegates at the AGM include the Orange FA Cup last 16, which has been earmarked to start on January 28 next year, with the final slated for June 8.
BOPA
