PSL - ABSA Sponsorship Debacle

[curiouswanderer]

Hope this hasn't been posted but what are your guys' thoughts about this? The deal seemed dodgy. 10% of sponsorship deal that gets to go to executives who brokered the deal is appalling. I don't see the execs in the premiership taking a percentage of the 2bn pound+ deal in England. A bonus is fine for securing the sponsorship but 10%?!?!? Apparently it's going to b paid directly into the execs' pockets as well.

What's worse is when Trevor Manuel rightfully speaks out about it, PSL execs tell him to shut it and don't get involved. As many in the press has mentioned, that 50mil that could've gone to any kind of development would've made a difference in many youngsters' lives...This is a sad state of affairs for SA soccer and SA sport for that matter if gov simply just ignores this.

 

[sox63]

I thought it was standard practice for whoever secures sponsorship for a sporting league/body to recieve commision?

 

[milomak]

Whether you choose to believe it's because of the public outcry or not, the PSL executive has stated that no decision on the size of the commission has been established.

And I guess its upto you to decide whether you believe ABSA when it states that it has not paid and will not be paying monies into the personal accounts of those who negotiated the deal.

Be that as it may, there is nothing wrong with those who negotiated the deal getting a bonus. I guess the question is whether that bonus is market related and whether the considerations and needs of South African soccer as a whole have been taken into account when the size of the bonus is determined.

 

[McSack]

Why all the fuss over the ABSA deal all of a sudden??? The PSL execs already scored way more than this from the Multichoice deal (Irvin reportedly got 70 mil).

No doubt it's a serious conflict of interest, but why is Multichoice's money OK and not ABSA's

 

[milomak]

Again the PSL executive has stated that no bonuses/commission related to the Multichoice deal have been decided or paid.

 

[MielieSpoor]

Lastnight on the moneyweb powerhour some an executive director from ABSA (LOUIS VON ZEUNER) spoke about this deal and said that ABSA has drawn up the contracts in such a way that commisions will not be paid to any member of the PSL. He did however say that if the PSL decides to pay commissions to the relevant people it is behond their control.

...the amount of money that we will pay over for the sponsorship and for the value that we will be getting does not include and does not provide for any commissions to be paid to any member of the executive.

Read the transcribed intreview or dowload the audio of the interview here...

 

[McSack]

Again the PSL executive has stated that no bonuses/commission related to the Multichoice deal have been decided or paid.

Funny that. A month or two back I heard Irvin Khoza freely admit that he was to receive 70 bar as commission from the Multichoice deal. This was in an interview with John Robbie on 702. Maybe the tin hasn't been paid yet, but they had been agreed.

I reckon the only reason the shyte is hitting the fan now is because Trevor Manuel had the balls to call the [-]commissions[/-] ... sorry alleged commissions ..."morally reprehensible and corrupt"

 

[McSack]

Be that as it may, there is nothing wrong with those who negotiated the deal getting a bonus.

I have to disagree with you there mate. With 2010 just around the corner, sponsors will be queuing up to be seen to be committing to soccer. In any case the officials are being paid a whack to do what little they do in the first place

I guess the question is whether that bonus is market related and whether the considerations and needs of South African soccer as a whole have been taken into account when the size of the bonus is determined.

For sure. Especially considering some PSL clubs are allegedly paying players less than a grand a month at the moment

 

[milomak]

I have to disagree with you there mate. With 2010 just around the corner, sponsors will be queuing up to be seen to be committing to soccer. In any case the officials are being paid a whack to do what little they do in the first place

You seem to be confusing SAFA and the PSL. I'm not sure what would be gained by sponsoring the PSL when they want exposure to the World Cup. In any event, if one can negotiate a better sponsorship deal, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with being paid for having done that.

EDIT: tbf you can't say they've done little for the sport if they've managed to put it in a position where this new deal completely dwarfs the previous one. That at the least shows that their adminstration has done something to make the product more marketable.

 

[milomak]

Funny that. A month or two back I heard Irvin Khoza freely admit that he was to receive 70 bar as commission from the Multichoice deal. This was in an interview with John Robbie on 702. Maybe the tin hasn't been paid yet, but they had been agreed.

I reckon the only reason the shyte is hitting the fan now is because Trevor Manuel had the balls to call the [-]commissions[/-] ... sorry alleged commissions ..."morally reprehensible and corrupt"

I do not know what you heard so can comment on that. All I can comment on is what the PSL has stated

"Payment [of commission] is a work in progress. No final decision was been taken. No final payments have been made."

The process was being undertaken in line with requirements for good corporate governance, under the oversight of auditors and in terms of the PSL's constitution.

This stated that PSL funds be utilised in pursuit of its objectives and not for personal gain except for, among others, the payment of employees or contractors to carry out special tasks.

Khoza could not give an indication of when a decision on commission would be made. "A lot of things are happening. I can't give a time," he said.

A recording of a November 2006 meeting of the PSL board of governors showed that while they agreed in principle with the concept of paying internal negotiators commission -- as opposed to paying an outside firm -- the modality had to be worked out.

Khoza emphasised that no matter what the final decision, "no executive committee member will be entitled to commission".

You may be cynical and call into question the authenticity of that recording or ask whether that was changed at later meetings.

 

[Bageloo]

I do not know what you heard so can comment on that. All I can comment on is what the PSL has stated



You may be cynical and call into question the authenticity of that recording or ask whether that was changed at later meetings.

No commisions have been paid. The board of directors still has to decide whether any commisions are payable. This is applies to both ABSA and Multichoice deals. This I heard from an audio snippet of MR Khoza's press conference (the man who may or may not have a missing tooth) they played on Discovery Sports (Metro FM) on Tuesday.

 

[Darth Garth]

Trevor nailed it ... paying bonusses is akin to corruption.

 

[Bageloo]

Trevor nailed it ... paying bonusses is akin to corruption.

Dude these are commissions, a standard practice in the corporate world.
Whether the negotiating team deserves it or not is another debate altogether. Firstly, ABSA had a right of first refusal in respect of any future sponsorship of the Premier Soccer League by virtue of being the league cup sponsors i.e.the ABSA cup. To me that does not equate to bringing new sponsorship.
John Comittis (Ajax boss, very much opposed to the commisions) mentioned that people in this negotiating team only had to attend one or two meetings and that was it.
Had they brought along a corporate that was not at all involved with football then I'd say the commision is well deserved.
For the Multichoice deal they hired UK consultants who were charging a fee...why is that they did not require services of professional consultants with the ABSA deal? My guess is that the deal was well in the bag. Now ask yourself why should they be payed commisions ?