Ladies and gentlemen, research took a little break but we are back. Today we look into the newly released financials of the South African Football Association (@SAFA_Net) for the year ended 30 June 2019. The standout number, a massive R75 Million rand loss!
As usual, I will re post my disclaimer. I am not an auditor, accountant or statistician nor am I a sports journalist. I am merely a concerned football fan who likes to read up on the financial side of sport and this is all publicly available information.
Let us begin
I begin with former Chairman, Mr Thamsanqa Gay Mokoena. It's clear from his remarks that SAFA expected a difficult year primarily due to loss of sponsorship revenue from the SABC. What shocked me is that sponsorship revenue from the SABC accounted for up to 35% of income.
More detail around financial performance can be found in the remarks of Mr Gronie Hluyo, the Chief Financial Officer. The SABC revenue constituted about 35% of income and for the '19/20 season they expect only 50% of the SABC revenue. That equates to roughly R47 million
I looked at the SABC’s financials for 2019 and found that they too had a difficult year, reporting a net loss of R482.4 million for 2019! However, this net loss is a 35% improvement on the restated loss in 2017/18 and should theoretically be able to honor their agreement
According to statements from Gronie Hluyo and my own calculation, that missing SABC broadcast fee should be in the region of R47 million as I said earlier. On a positive note, sponsorships continue to grow while expenses have decreased encouragingly.
In addition, CAF and FIFA grants to Member Associations increased. The CAF
grant increased from $100 000 to $200 000 p.a. whilst the FIFA grant rose from $1,25m to $1,50m p.a
FIFA also announced a Covid relief grant of $1.5 million with $500k specifically for women's football
Talking about grants, the elephant in the room is always the 2010 FIFA World Cup Legacy Trust.
SAFA draws down from this trust through interest bearing grants with the likes of @Mumble_D and @gaymokoena calling for independent inquiries into the management of these funds
According to the financials, the Trust had an available balance of R115 million. The original investment was R450,762,816 and interest gained on the original investment was R153 million.
Here is the breakdown for how it has been spent.
A large portion of the allocation to SAFA was to build the National Technical Centre or Fun Valley for R82.5 million while regions, development through education and legacy bags (training kit bundles including nets, balls, cones etc) cost another R72 odd million.
When I reviewed the 2018 financials, I found the Other Administration Costs number seriously worrying and I am glad to see that number is decreasing along with the cost containment objectives.
For those curious to know, the administration costs number consists of the following.
Employee costs are by far the highest contributor. A curious thing is that the NEC members DO NOT get paid a set salary so they don't form part of that employee cost number.
Since the NEC members are non standard employees, they receive what is called an Honoraria fee. An honorarium is a token payment made to bestow recognition to an individual for services they perform, for which payment is not required.
From what i can gather, a Remuneration Committee proposes what the NEC as the governing body of SAFA can be paid. Congress, led by the NEC then decides on the remuneration.
Further to this, there are vehicle loans not only to current but also former NEC members as well. These loans are supposedly paid back through the honoria payments that the NEC members receive.
My question is, how do you recoup a loan from a former NEC member? Very odd
#SAFA needs the SABC to fix themselves ASAP
Expenses are coming down nicely
Legacy trust funds are almost finished but other sources of income like grant funds and sponsorships are rising
Internal ructions need to stop
Covid adjusted numbers will be brutal
On January 4, 2022, YouTubers and influencers Logan Paul, who is American, and KSI, who is British announced on a live Instagram feed that they had founded a new drinks company known as Prime Hydration
So who are these guys and why do they matter?
We'll start with Logan. He has about 98 million followers across his social networks - over 23 million subscribers on YouTube - and has ranked on the Forbes list for the highest paid YouTube creators in 2017, 2018, and 2021
- SA tourism mandate & performance
- Did Rwanda make money from Arsenal and PSG deals
- Cost compared to other deals
- Breaking down each year of the deal
- Key leverage rights
THREAD
The furore surrounding the proposed sleeve sponsorship of the English Premier League (EPL) football club Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) by South Africa Tourism (SAT) is still raging.
There are many parts to this but we'll concentrate on the SA Tourism mandate and the deal
SAT is the official marketing agency of the National Department of Tourism. It's mandate is the effective marketing of South Africa as a domestic and international tourist destination.
They identify target markets for growth and have global offices from which they operate
Juventus handed a 15 point deduction and directors banned
Club found to have falsely inflated the value of players and misrepresented losses. Last year's financials showed losses of €254 million, the highest ever in Italian football.
The most cited example in the reported 42 suspicious Juve transfers being looked at by the FIGC is last year's deal between the 36-time Italian champions and Barcelona which saw Miralem Pjanic move to Catalonia and Arthur Melo go the other way.
Arthur was valued at €72 million and Pjanic €60 million, but even though nowhere near that amount of cash was paid both clubs could immediately book the values of the sales on their balance sheets.
20-25% of all new gym memberships are signed in January but almost all of the newbies fall off the wagon, making established gym companies highly profitable.
This is the business of fitness and nutrition 🏃♂️💪
THREAD 🔽
When it comes to attendance, stats show that gym memberships have increased over the years. In South Africa, for example, the number of Virgin Active gym memberships has grown from 497,000 in December 2021 to 587,000 in October 2022.
📸 Virgin Active Year To Date Membership
Virgin has 236 clubs in eight countries including Italy, the UK, Australia, Singapore and Thailand. It boasts approximately 905,000 adult members, with 66% of those based in South Africa. It has approximately 133 gyms across the country.
In November 2022 alone, hesgoal.com had over 100 million site visits 😳 then it was shut down ❌
Illegal sports streaming is made up of many complex layers and broadcasters are trying their hardest to fight back.
But is this a battle they can win?
THREAD ⬇️
A study conducted by the Digital Citizens Alliance estimated that illegal streaming costs the sports industry $3.3-billion a year. This figure includes not only lost revenue from advertisers and subscriptions, but also the cost of producing and airing the sports events themselves
Another study, conducted by the Sports Video Group, found that illegal streaming cost the sports industry $1.5-billion in lost revenue in 2018. This study did not take into account the cost of producing the events or other potential losses.
The history
The money and Mayweather contract
The other promoter
The postponement
THREAD 🧵
I begin this with full disclosure.
I am not affiliated in any way with the tournament, the King, Floyd Mayweather or the event organisers.
This thread was compiled through independent research as well as through my sources in sports business.
Let's go..
The late Isilo Samabandla, King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, had a dream of "seeing the youth involved in social cohesion programs to empower the youth.
He had intended to create a boxing tournament in KZN and was involved in the design of the Bayede Championship belt